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VIVIETTE 


«  CAU,  .  «" 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 

IDOLS 
JAFFERY 
SEPTIMUS 
DERELICTS 
THE  USURPER 
STELLA  MARIS 
WHERE  LOVE  Is 
THE  WHITE  DOVE 
SIMON  THE  JESTER 
A  STUDY  IN  SHADOWS 
THE  FORTUNATE  YOUTH 
A  CHRISTMAS  MYSTERY 
THE  BELOVED  VAGABOND 
AT  THE  GATE  OF  SAMARIA 
THE  GLORY  OF  CLEMENTINA 
THE  MORALS  OF  MARCUS  ORDEYNE 
THE  DEMAGOGUE  AND  LADY  PHAYRE 
THE  JOYOUS  ADVENTURES  OF  ARISTIDE 
PUJOL 


"No,  don't,  Viviette;  forgive  me" 

See  page  2G 


VI  VIETTE 


BY 

WILLIAM  J.  LOCKE 

ACTHOR  OF  "JAFFEBY,"  "THE  FORTUNATE  TOUTH,' 
"THE  BELOVED  VAGABOND,"  ETC. 


WITH 

ILLUSTRATIONS   IN   COLOTJE 
BY  EAKL  STETSON  CRAWFORD 


NEW  YORK:  JOHN  LANE  COMPANY 
LONDON:  JOHN  LANE,  THE  BODLEY  HEAD 
.'.  .-.  .-.  MCMXVI  .'. 


COPTBIOHT,  1910, 

BY  AINSLEE  MAGAZINE  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,  1916, 
BY  JOHN  LANE  COMPANY 


Press  by 

J.  J.  Little  &  Ives  Company 
New  York,  U.S.A. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTEB 

I.  THE   BROTHERS       .         .         .         .         .11 

II.  THE  CONSPIRATORS           ....       41 

III.  KATHERINE      .         .         .         .         .         .75 

IV.  THE  FAMOUS  DUELLING  PISTOLS      .         .     102 
V.  A  CRISIS  .......     135 

VI.  VIVIETTE  TAKES  THE  RISK      .        .         .169 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

"No,  don't,  Viviette;  forgive  me"  Frontispiece 

FACING 
FAGK 

"Dick  glared  at  him" 128 

"He  held  out  imploring  hands"         .         .         .144 
"I  want  you  to  love  me  forever  and  ever"  .         .196 


VIVIETTE 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  BROTHERS 

DICK,"  said  Viviette,  "ought  to  go 
about  in  skins  like  a  primitive  man." 

Katherine  Holroyd  looked  up  from  her 
needlework.  She  was  a  gentle,  fair-haired 
woman  of  thirty,  with  demure  blue  eyes, 
which  regarded  the  girl  with  a  mingling  of 
pity,  protection,  and  amusement. 

"My  dear,"  she  said,  "whenever  I  see  a 
pretty  girl  fooling  about  with  a  primitive 
man  I  always  think  of  a  sweet  little  monkey 
I  once  knew,  who  used  to  have  great  sport 
with  a  lyddite  shell.  Her  master  kept  it  on 
his  table  as  a  paper-weight,  and  no  one  knew 

it  was  loaded.    One  day  she  hit  the  shell  in 

11 


12  VIVIETTE 

the  wrong  place — and  they're  still  looking 
for  the  monkey.  Don't  think  Dick  is  the 
empty  shell." 

Whereupon  she  resumed  her  work,  and  for 
a  few  moments  the  click  of  thimble  and 
needle  alone  broke  the  summer  stillness. 
Viviette  lay  idly  on  a  long  garden  chair 
admiring  the  fit  of  a  pair  of  dainty  tan  shoes, 
which  she  twiddled  with  graceful  twists  of 
the  ankles  some  five  feet  from  her  nose.  At 
Mrs.  Holroyd's  remark  she  laughed  after  the 
manner  of  one  quite  contented  with  herself 
— a  low,  musical  laugh,  in  harmony  with  the 
blue  June  sky  and  the  flowering  chestnuts 
and  the  song  of  the  thrushes. 

"My  intentions  with  regard  to  Dick  are 
strictly  honourable,"  she  remarked.  "We've 
been  engaged  for  the  last  eleven  years,  and 
I  still  have  his  engagement  ring.  It  cost 
three-and-sixpence." 

"I  only  want  to  warn  you,  dear,"  said  Mrs. 
Holroyd.  "Anyone  can  see  that  Dick  is  in 


THE  BROTHERS  13 

love  with  you,  and  if  you  don't  take  care 
you'll  have  Austin  falling  in  love  with  you 
too." 

Viviette  laughed  again.  "But  he  has  al- 
ready fallen !  I  don't  think  he  knows  it  yet ; 
but  he  has.  It's  great  fun  being  a  woman, 
isn't  it,  dear?" 

"I  don't  know  that  I've  ever  found  it  so," 
Katherine  replied  with  a  sigh.  She  was  a 
widow,  and  had  loved  her  husband,  and  her 
sky  was  still  tinged  with  grey. 

Viviette,  quick  to  catch  the  sadness  in  the 
voice,  made  no  reply,  but  renewed  the  con- 
templation of  her  shoe-tips. 

"I'm  afraid  you're  an  arrant  little  co- 
quette," said  Katherine  indulgently. 

"Lord  Banstead  says  I'm  a  little  devil," 
she  laughed. 

If  she  was  in  some  measure  a  coquette 
she  may  be  forgiven.  What  woman  can 
have  suddenly  revealed  to  her  the  thrilling 
sense  of  her  sex's  mastery  over  men  without 


14  VIVIETTE 

snatching  now  and  then  the  fearful  joy  of 
using  her  power?  She  was  one-and- twenty, 
her  heart  still  unawakened,  and  she  had  re- 
turned to  her  childhood's  home  to  find  men 
who  had  danced  her  on  their  knees  bending 
low  before  her,  and  proclaiming  themselves 
her  humble  vassals.  It  was  intoxicating. 
She  had  always  looked  up  to  Austin  with 
awe,  as  one  too  remote  and  holy  for  girlish 
irreverence.  And  now!  No  wonder  her  sex 
laughed  within  her. 

Until  she  had  gone  abroad  to  finish  her 
education,  she  had  lived  in  that  old,  grey 
manor-house,  that  dreamed  in  the  sunshine 
of  the  terrace  below  which  she  was  sitting, 
ever  since  they  had  brought  her  thither,  an 
orphaned  child  of  three.  Mrs.  Ware,  her 
guardian,  was  her  adopted  mother ;  the  sons, 
Dick  and  Austin  Ware,  her  brothers — the 
engagement,  when  she  was  ten  and  Dick 
one-and-twenty,  had  hardly  fluttered  the 
fraternal  relationship.  She  had  left  them  a 


THE  BROTHERS  15 

merry,  kittenish  child.  She  had  returned  a 
woman,  slender,  full-bosomed,  graceful,  al- 
luring, with  a  maturity  of  fascination  beyond 
her  years.  Enemies  said  she  had  gipsy  blood 
in  her  veins.  If  so,  the  infusion  must  have 
taken  place  long,  long  ago,  for  her  folks 
were  as  proud  of  their  name  as  the  Wares 
of  Ware  House.  But,  for  all  that,  there  was 
a  suggestion  of  the  exotic  in  the  olive  and 
cream  complexion,  and  the  oval  face,  point- 
ing at  the  dimpled  chin;  something  of  the 
woodland  in  her  lithe  figure  and  free  ges- 
tures ;  in  her  swimming,  dark  eyes  one  could 
imagine  something  fierce  and  untamable  ly- 
ing beneath  her  laughing  idleness.  Kather- 
ine  Holroyd  called  her  a  coquette,  Austin 
whatever  the  whim  of  a  cultured  fancy  sug- 
gested, and  Lord  Banstead  a  little  devil.  As 
for  Dick,  he  called  her  nothing.  His  love 
was  too  great;  his  vocabulary  too  small. 
Lord  Banstead  was  a  neighbour  who,  in 


16  VIVIETTE 

the  course  of  three  months,  had  proposed 
several  times  to  Viviette. 

"I'm  not  very  much  to  look  at,"  he  re- 
marked on  the  first  of  these  occasions — he 
was  a  weedy,  pallid  youth  of  six-and-twenty 
— "and  the  title's  not  very  old,  I  must  admit. 
Governor  only  a  scientific  Johnnie,  Marget- 
son,  the  celebrated  chemist,  you  know,  who 
discovered  some  beastly  gas  or  other  and  got 
made  a  peer — but  I  can  sit  with  the  other  old 
rotters  in  the  House  of  Lords,  you  know,  if 
I  want.  And  I've  got  enough  to  run  the 
show,  if  you'll  keep  me  from  chucking  it 
away  as  I'm  doing.  It'd  be  a  godsend  if 
you'd  marry  me,  I  give  you  my  word." 

"Before  I  have  anything  to  do  with  you," 
replied  Viviette,  who  had  heard  Dick  express 
his  opinion  of  Lord  Banstead  in  forcible 
terms,  "you'll  have  to  forswear  sack,  and — 
and  a  very  big  AND " 

Lord   Banstead,   not   being   learned   in 


THE  BROTHERS  171 

literary  allusions,  looked  bewildered.  Vivi- 
ette  laughed. 

"I'll  translate  if  you  like.  You'll  have  to 
give  up  unlimited  champagne  and  whiskey 
and  lead  an  ostensibly  respectable  life." 

Whereupon  Lord  Banstead  called  her  a 
little  devil  and  went  off  in  dudgeon  to  Lon- 
don and  took  golden-haired  ladies  out  to 
supper.  When  he  returned  to  the  country 
he  again  offered  her  his  title,  and  being 
rejected  a  second  time,  again  called  her  a 
little  devil,  and  went  back  to  the  fashionable 
supper-room.  A  third  and  a  fourth  time  he 
executed  this  complicated  manoeuvre;  and 
now  news  had  reached  Viviette  that  he  was 
in  residence  at  Farfield,  where  he  was  boring 
himself  exceedingly  in  his  father's  scientific 
library. 

"I  suppose  he'll  be  coming  over  to-day," 
said  Viviette. 

"Why  do  you  encourage  him?"  asked 
Katherine. 


18  VIVIETTE 

"I  don't,"  Viviette  retorted.  "I  snub  him 
unmercifully.  If  I  am  a  coquette  it's  with 
real  men,  not  with  the  by-product  of  a  chem- 
ical experiment." 

Katherine  dropped  her  work  and  her  un- 
derlip,  and  turned  reproachful  blue  eyes  on 
the  girl. 

"Viviette!" 

"Oh,  she's  shocked!  Saint  Nitouche  is 
shocked!"  Then,  with  a  change  of  manner, 
she  rose  and,  bending  over  Katherine's  chair, 
kissed  her.  "I'm  sorry,  dear,"  she  said,  in 
pretty  penitence.  "I  know  it  was  an  abom- 
inable and  unladylike  thing  to  say,  but  my 
tongue  sometimes  runs  away  with  my 
thoughts.  Forgive  me." 

At  that  moment  a  man  dressed  in  rough 
tweeds  and  leggings,  who  had  emerged  from 
the  stable  side  of  the  manor-house,  crossed 
the  terrace,  and,  descending  the  steps,  walked 
over  the  lawn  towards  the  two  ladies.  He 
had  massive  shoulders  and  a  thick,  strong 


THE  BROTHERS  19 

neck,  coarse  reddish  hair,  and  a  moustache 
of  a  lighter  shade.  Blue  eyes  looked  with  a 
curious  childish  pathos  out  of  a  face  tanned 
by  sun  and  weather.  He  slouched  slightly 
in  his  gait,  like  the  heavy  man  accustomed 
to  the  saddle.  This  was  Dick  Ware,  the 
elder  of  the  brothers  and  heir  to  fallen  for- 
tunes, mortgaged  house  and  lands,  and  he 
gave  the  impression  of  failure,  of  a  man 
who,  in  spite  of  thews  and  sinews,  had  been 
unable  to  grapple  with  circumstance. 

Viviette  left  Katherine  to  her  needlework, 
and  advanced  to  meet  him.  At  her  spon- 
taneous act  of  welcome  a  light  came  into 
his  eyes.  He  removed  from  his  lips  the  short 
corn-cob  pipe  he  was  smoking. 

"I've  just  been  looking  at  the  new  mare. 
She's  a  beauty.  I  know  I  oughtn't  to  have 
got  her,  but  she  was  going  dirt  cheap — and 
what  can  a  man  do  when  he's  offered  a  horse 
at  a  quarter  its  value?" 


20  VIVIETTE 

"Nothing,  my  dear  Dick,  save  pay  four 
times  as  much  as  he  can  afford." 

"But  we  had  to  get  a  new  beast,"  he  ar- 
gued seriously.  "We  can't  go  about  the 
country  in  a  donkey-cart.  If  I  hadn't 
bought  one,  Austin  would,  for  the  sake  of 
the  family  dignity — and  I  do  like  to  feel 
independent  of  Austin  now  and  then." 

"I  wish  you  were  entirely  independent  of 
Austin,"  said  Viviette,  walking  with  him  up 
the  lawn. 

"I  can't,  so  long  as  I  stay  here  doing  noth- 
ing. But  if  I  went  out  to  Canada  or  New 
Zealand,  as  I  want  to  do,  who  would  look 
after  my  mother?  I'm  tied  by  the  leg." 

"I'd  look  after  mother,"  said  Viviette. 
"And  you'd  write  me  nice  long  letters,  say- 
ing how  you  were  getting  on,  and  I  would 
send  you  nice  little  bulletins,  and  we  should 
all  be  very  happy." 

"Do  you  want  to  get  rid  of  me,  Viviette?" 

"I  want  you  to  have  your  heart's  desire." 


THE  BROTHERS  21 

"You  know  what  my  heart's  desire  is,"  he 
said  unsteadily. 

"Why,  to  raise  sheep  or  drive  cattle,  or 
chop  down  trees  in  the  backwoods,"  she  re- 
plied, lifting  demure  eyebrows.  "Oh,  Dick, 
don't  be  foolish.  See — there's  mother  just 
come  out." 

With  a  light  laugh  she  escaped  and  ran 
up  the  steps  to  meet  an  old  lady,  rather  in- 
firm, who,  with  the  aid  of  a  stick,  was  begin- 
ning to  take  her  morning  walk  up  and  down 
the  terrace.  Dick  followed  her  moodily. 

"Good  morning,  mother,"  said  he,  bending 
down  to  kiss  her. 

Mrs.  Ware  put  up  her  cheek,  and  received 
the  salute  with  no  great  show  of  pleasure. 

"Oh,  how  you  smell  of  tobacco  smoke, 
Dick.  Where's  Austin?  Please  go  and  find 
him.  I  want  to  hear  what  he  has  to  say 
about  the  stables." 

"What  can  he  say,  mother?" 


22  VIVIETTE 

"He  can  advise  us  and  help  us  to  put  the 
muddle  right,"  said  Mrs.  Ware. 

These  stables  had  been  a  subject  of  con- 
troversy for  some  time.  The  old  ones  hav- 
ing fallen  into  disgraceful  disrepair,  Dick 
had  turned  architect  and  erected  new  ones 
himself.  As  shelters  for  beasts,  they  were 
comparatively  sound;  as  appanages  to  an 
Elizabethan  manor-house,  they  were  open  to 
adverse  criticism.  Austin,  who  had  come 
down  from  London  a  day  or  two  before  to 
spend  his  Whitsuntide  holiday  at  home,  had 
promised  his  mother  to  make  inspection  and 
report. 

"But  what  does  Austin  know  about  sta- 
bles?" Viviette  asked,  as  soon  as  Dick  had 
slouched  away  in  search  of  his  brother. 

"Austin  knows  about  everything,  my 
dear,"  replied  the  old  lady  decisively.  "Not 
only  is  Austin  a  brilliantly  clever  man,  but 
he's  a  successful  barrister,  and  a  barrister's 
business  is  to  know  all  about  everything. 


THE  BROTHERS  23 

Give  me  your  arm,  dear,  and  let  us  walk  up 
and  down  a  little  till  they  come." 

Presently  Dick  returned  with  Austin, 
whom  he  had  found  smoking  a  cigar  in  a 
very  meditative  manner  in  front  of  the 
stables.  Dick's  face  was  gloomy,  but  Aus- 
tin's was  bright,  as  he  came  briskly  up  and, 
cigar  in  hand,  stooped  to  his  mother.  She 
put  her  arms  round  his  neck,  kissed  him 
affectionately,  and  inquired  after  his  sleep 
and  his  comfort  and  the  quality  of  his  break- 
fast. 

"Doesn't  Austin  smell  of  tobacco  smoke, 
mother?"  asked  Dick. 

"Austin,"  replied  Mrs.  Ware,  "has  a  way 
of  smoking  and  not  smelling  of  it." 

Austin  laughed  gaily.  "I  believe  if  I  fell 
into  a  pond  you'd  say  I  had  a  way  of  coming 
up  dry." 

Dick  turned  to  Viviette,  and  muttered 
with  some  bitterness :  "And  if  I  fell  into  a 
dry  ditch  she'd  say  I  came  up  slimy." 


24  VIVIETTE 

Viviette,  touched  by  pity,  raised  a  bewitch- 
ing face.  "Dry  or  slimy,  you  would  be  just 
the  same  dear  old  Dick,"  she  whispered. 

"And  what  about  the  stables?"  asked  Mrs. 
Ware. 

"Oh,  they're  not  bad.  They're  rather 
creditable ;  but,"  Austin  added,  turning  with 
a  laugh  to  his  brother,  "the  mother  will  fid- 
get, you  know,  and  the  somewhat — let  us 
say  rococo  style  of  architecture  has  got  on 
her  nerves.  I  think  the  whole  thing  had 
better  come  down,  don't  you?" 

"If  you  like,"  said  Dick  gruffly.  He  had 
given  way  to  Austin  all  his  life.  What  was 
the  use  of  opposing  him  now? 

"Good.  I'll  send  young  Rapson,  the  ar- 
chitect, along  to  make  a  design.  Don't  you 
worry,  old  chap,  I'll  see  it  through." 

Young,  brisk,  debonair,  flushed  with  suc- 
cess and  the  sense  of  the  mastery  of  life,  he 
did  not  notice  the  lowering  of  Dick's  brows, 
which  deepened  into  almost  a  scowl  when 


THE  BROTHERS  25 

he  turned  frankly  admiring  eyes  on  Viviette, 
and  drew  her  into  gay,  laughing  talk,  nor 
did  he  catch  the  hopelessness  in  the  drag  of 
Dick's  feet  as  he  went  off  to  gaze  sorrow- 
fully at  the  fallen  pride  of  his  heart,  the 
condemned  stables. 

But  Viviette  who  knew,  as  Austin  did  not, 
of  Dick's  disappointment,  soon  broke  away 
and  joined  him  in  front  of  the  amorphous 
shed  of  timber.  She  took  him  by  the  arm. 

"Come  for  a  stroll  in  the  orchard." 

He  suffered  himself  to  be  led  through  the 
stable-yard  gate.  She  talked  to  him  of  apple 
blossoms.  He  listened  for  some  time  in  si- 
lence. Then  he  broke  out. 

"It's  an  infernal  shame,"  said  he. 

"It  is,"  said  Viviette.  "But  you  needn't 
put  on  such  a  glum  face  when  I'm  here  es- 
pecially to  comfort  you.  If  you're  not  glad 
to  see  me  I'll  go  back  to  Austin.  He's  much 
more  amusing  than  you." 

"I  suppose  he  is.    Yes,  go  back  to  him. 


26  VIVIETTE 

I'm  a  fool.  I'm  nobody.  No,  don't,  Vivi- 
ette;  forgive  me,"  he  cried,  catching  her  as 
she  turned  away  somewhat  haughtily.  "I 
didn't  mean  it,  but  things  are  getting  be- 
yond my  endurance." 

Viviette  seated  herself  on  a  bench  beneath 
the  apple  blossoms. 

"What  things?" 

"Everything.  My  position.  Austin's  airy 
ways." 

"But  that's  what  makes  him  so  charming." 

"Yes,  confound  him.  My  ways  are  about 
as  airy  as  a  hippopotamus's.  Look  here, 
Viviette.  I'm  fond  of  Austin,  God  knows — 
but  all  my  life  he  has  been  put  in  front  of 
me.  He  has  had  all  the  chances;  I've  had 
none.  With  my  father  when  he  was  alive, 
with  my  mother,  it  has  always  been  Austin 
this  and  Austin  that.  He  was  the  head  of 
the  school  when  I,  the  elder,  was  a  lout  in 
the  lower  fourth.  He  had  a  brilliant  Uni- 
versity career  and  went  into  the  world  and 


THE  BROTHERS  27 

is  making  a  fortune.  I'm  only  able  to  ride 
and  shoot  and  do  country  things.  I've  stuck 
here  with  only  this  mortgaged  house  belong- 
ing to  me  and  the  hundred  or  so  a  year  I 
get  out  of  the  tenants.  I'm  not  even  execu- 
tor under  my  father's  will.  It's  Austin. 
Austin  pays  mother  the  money  under  her 
marriage  settlement.  If  things  go  wrong 
Austin  is  sent  for  to  put  them  right.  It 
never  seems  to  occur  to  him  that  it's  my 
house.  Oh,  of  course  I  know  he  pays  the 
interest  on  the  mortgage  and  makes  my 
mother  an  allowance — that's  the  humiliation 
of  it." 

He  sat  with  his  elbows  on  his  knees  and 
his  head  in  his  hands,  staring  at  the  grass. 

"But  surely  you  could  find  some  work  to 
do,  Dick?" 

He  shrugged  his  great  shoulders.  "They 
stuck  me  once  in  an  office  in  London.  I  suf- 
focated and  added  up  things  wTong  and  told 
the  wrong  lies  to  the  wrong  people,  and 


28  VIVIETTE 

ended  up  by  breaking  the  junior  partner's 
headl" 

"You  had  some  satisfaction  out  of  it,  at 
any  rate,"  laughed  Viviette. 

A  faint  reminiscent  smile  crossed  his  face. 
"I  suppose  I  had.  But  it  didn't  qualify  me 
for  a  successful  business  career.  No.  I 
might  do  something  in  a  new  country.  I 
must  get  away  from  this.  I  can't  stand  it. 
But  yet — as  I've  told  you  all  along,  I'm  tied 
— hand  and  foot." 

"And  so  you're  very  miserable,  Dick." 

"How  can  I  help  it?" 

Viviette  edged  a  little  away  from  him,  and 
said,  rather  resentfully: 

"I  don't  call  that  polite,  seeing  that  I  have 
come  back  to  live  with  you." 

He  turned  on  her  with  some  fierceness. 
"Don't  you  see  that  your  being  here  makes 
my  life  all  the  more  impossible?  How  can 
I  be  with  you  day  after  day  without  loving 
you,  hungering  for  you,  wanting  you,  body 


THE  BROTHERS  29 

and  soul?  I've  never  given  a  thought  to 
another  woman  in  my  life.  You're  my  heart's 
blood,  dear.  I  want  to  hold  you  so  tight  in 
my  arms  that  not  the  ghost  of  another  man 
can  ever  come  between  us.  You  know  it." 

Viviette  shredded  an  apple  blossom  that 
had  fallen  into  her  lap.  The  fingers  that 
held  the  petal  tingled,  and  a  flush  rose  in  her 
cheek. 

"I  do  know  it,"  she  said  in  a  low  voice. 
"You're  always  telling  me.  But,  Dick" — 
she  flashed  a  mischievous  glance  at  him — 
"while  you're  holding  me — although  it  would 
be  very  nice — we  should  starve." 

"Then  let  us  starve,"  he  cried  vehemently. 

"Oh,  no.  Oh,  most  decidedly  no.  Starva- 
tion would  be  so  unbecoming.  I  should  get 
to  be  a  fright — a  bundle  of  bones  and  a 
rundle  of  skin — and  you'd  be  horrified — I 
couldn't  bear  it." 

"If  you  would  only  say  you  cared  a  scrap 
for  me  it  would  be  easier,"  he  pleaded. 


30  VIVIETTE 

"I  should  have  thought  it  would  be 
harder." 

"Anyhow,  say  it — say  it  this  once — just 
this  once." 

She  bent  her  head  to  hide  a  smile,  and  said 
in  a  voice  adorably  soft: 

"Dick,  shut  your  eyes." 

"Viviette!"  he  cried,  with  sudden  hope. 

"No.  Shut  your  eyes.  Turn  round.  Now 
tell  me,"  she  continued,  when  he  had  turned 
obediently,  "just  what  I've  got  on.  No!" 
she  held  him  by  the  shoulders,  "you're  not 
to  move." 

Now,  she  was  wearing  a  white  blouse  and 
a  blue  skirt  and  tan  shoes,  and  a  yellow  rose 
was  pinned  at  her  bosom. 

"What  dress  am  I  wearing?" 

"A  light-coloured  thing,"  said  Dick. 

"And  what's  it  trimmed  with?" 

"Lace,"  said  the  unfortunate  man.  Lace 
indeed ! 

"And  what  coloured  boots?" 


THE  BROTHERS  31 

"Black,"  said  Dick,  at  a  venture. 

"And  what  flower?" 

"I  don't  know — a  pink  rose,  I  think." 

She  started  up.  "Look,"  she  cried  gaily. 
"Oh,  Dick!  I'll  never  marry  you  till  you 
have  the  common  decency  to  look  at  me — 
never!  never!  never!  I  dressed  myself  this 
beautiful  morning  just  to  please  you.  Oh, 
Dick!  Dick,  you've  lost  such  a  chance." 

She  stood  with  her  hands  behind  her  back 
regarding  him  mockingly,  as  Eve  in  the  first 
orchard  must  have  regarded  Adam  when  he 
was  more  dull  and  masculine  than  usual — 
when,  for  instance,  she  had  attired  herself 
in  hybiscus  flowers  which  he  took  for  the 
hum-drum,  everyday  fig-leaves. 

"I'm  a  born  duffer,"  said  Dick  pathetic- 
ally. "But  your  face  is  all  that  I  see  when 
I  look  at  you." 

"That's  all  very  pretty,"  she  retorted. 
"But  you  ought  to  see  more.  Now  let  us 


32  VIVIETTE 

talk  sense.  Mind,  if  I  sit  on  that  bench 
again  you're  to  talk  sense." 

Dick  sighed.    "Very  well,"  said  he. 

That  was  the  history  of  all  his  love-making. 
She  drew  him  on  to  passionate  utterance, 
and  then,  with  a  twist  of  her  wit  and  a  twirl 
of  her  skirts,  she  eluded  him.  When  she  had 
thus  put  herself  out  of  his  reach,  he  felt 
ashamed.  What  right  had  he,  dull,  useless, 
lumbering,  squiredomless  squire,  to  ask  a 
woman  like  Viviette  to  marry  him?  How 
could  he  support  a  wife?  As  it  was,  he  lived 
a  pensioner  on  Austin's  bounty.  Could  he 
ask  Austin  to  feed  his  wife  and  family  as 
well?  This  thought,  which  always  came  to 
him  as  soon  as  his  passion  was  checked,  filled 
him  with  deep  humiliation.  Viviette  had 
reason  on  her  side  when  she  said,  "Let  us 
talk  sense." 

He  glowered  at  his  fate,  and  tugged  his 
tawny  moustache  for  some  time  in  silence. 
Then  Viviette  began  to  talk  to  him  prettily 


THE  BROTHERS  33 

of  things  that  made  up  his  country  interests, 
his  dogs,  the  garden,  the  personalities  of  the 
country-side.  Soon  she  had  him  laughing, 
which  pleased  and  flattered  her,  as  it  proved 
her  power  over  the  primitive  man.  Indeed, 
at  such  moments,  she  felt  very  tenderly  to- 
wards him,  and  would  have  liked  to  pat  his 
cheeks  and  crown  him  with  flowers,  thus 
manifesting  her  favour  by  dainty  caresses. 
But  she  refrained,  knowing  that  primitive 
men  are  too  dense  to  interpret  such  demon- 
strations rightly,  and  limited  herself  to  less 
compromising  words. 

"I  am  going  to  tell  you  a  secret,"  he  said 
at  last,  in  a  shamefaced  way.  "You  mustn't 
laugh  at  me — promise  me  you  won't." 

"I  promise,"  said  Viviette  solemnly. 

"I  am  thinking  of  going  in  for  local  poli- 
tics— Rural  District  Council,  you  know." 

Viviette  nodded  her  head  approvingly. 
"A  village  Hampden — in  Tory  clothing?" 

"They're  running  things  on  party  lines 


34  VIVIETTE 

down  here.  The  influence  of  Westhampton 
is  Radical,  and  fills  the  Council  with  a  lot 
of  outsiders.  So  they've  got  together  a  Con- 
servative Committee,  and  are  going  to  run 
a  good  strong  man  for  a  vacancy.  I've  given 
them  to  understand  that  I'll  be  a  candidate 
if  they'll  have  me.  I'd  like  to  be  one.  It's 
a  rubbishy  thing,  dear,  but  somehow  it  would 
give  me  a  little  interest  in  life." 

"I  don't  think  it  a  rubbishy  thing  at  all," 
said  Viviette.  "A  country  gentleman  ought 
to  have  a  hand  in  rural  administration.  I 
do  hope  you'll  get  in.  When  will  you  know 
that  the  committee  have  selected  you?" 

"There's  a  meeting  this  evening.  I  ought 
to  know  to-night  or  to-morrow  morning." 

"Are  you  very  keen  on  it?" 

"Very,"  said  Dick.  And  he  added 
proudly,  "It  was  my  own  idea." 

"But  you're  not  as  keen  on  that  as  on 
going  abroad?" 

"Ah,  that!"  said  Dick.    "That,  bar  one,  is 


THE  BROTHERS  35 

the  dearest  wish  of  my  heart.  And  who 
knows — it  might  enable  me  to  carry  out  the 
other." 

The  sound  of  a  gong  within  the  house 
floated  through  the  still  June  air.  Viviette 
rose.  "I  must  tidy  myself  for  lunch." 

They  walked  to  the  house  together.  On 
parting  she  put  out  both  her  hands. 

"Do  be  reasonable,  Dick,  and  don't  look 
for  slights  in  what  you  call  Austin's  airy 
ways.  He  is  awfully  fond  of  you,  and  would 
not  hurt  you  for  the  world." 

At  the  luncheon  table,  however,  Austin 
did  hurt  him,  in  utter  unconsciousness,  by  his 
gay  command  of  the  situation,  his  eager  talk 
with  Viviette  of  things  Dick  did  not  under- 
stand, places  he  had  not  visited,  books  he  had 
never  read,  pictures  he  had  never  seen.  It 
was  heartache  rather  than  envy.  He  did  not 
grudge  Austin  his  scholarship  and  brilliance. 
But  his  soul  sank  at  the  sight  of  Austin  and 
Viviette  moving  as  familiars  in  a  joyous 


36  VIVIETTE 

world  as  remote  from  him  as  Neptune.  Mrs. 
Ware  kept  Katherine  Holroyd  engaged  in 
mild  talk  of  cooks  and  curates,  while  the 
other  two  maintained  their  baffling  conver- 
sation, half  banter,  half  serious,  on  a  bewil- 
dering number  of  topics,  and  poor  Dick  re- 
mained as  dumb  as  the  fish  and  cutlets  he 
was  eating.  He  sat  at  the  head  of  the  table, 
Mrs.  Ware  at  the  foot.  On  his  right  hand 
sat  Katherine  Holroyd,  on  his  left  Viviette, 
and  between  her  and  his  mother  was  Austin. 
With  Viviette  talking  to  Austin  and  Mrs. 
Ware  to  Katherine,  he  felt  lonely  and  dis- 
regarded in  a  kind  of  polar  waste  of  snowy 
tablecloth.  Once  Katherine,  escaping  from 
Mrs.  Ware's  platitudinous  ripple,  took  pity 
on  him,  and  asked  him  when  he  was  going 
to  redeem  his  promise  and  show  her  his  col- 
lection of  armour  and  weapons.  Dick 
brightened.  This  was  the  only  keen  interest 
he  had  in  life  outside  things  of  earth  and  air 
and  stream.  He  had  inherited  a  good  family 


THE  BROTHERS  37. 

collection,  and  had  added  to  it  occasionally, 
as  far  as  his  slender  means  allowed.  He  had 
read  deeply,  and  understood  his  subject. 

"Whenever  you  like,  Katherine,"  he  said. 

"This  afternoon?" 

"I'm  afraid  they  want  polishing  up  and 
arranging.  I've  got  some  new  things  which 
I've  not  placed.  I've  rather  neglected  them 
lately.  Let  us  say  to-morrow  afternoon. 
Then  they'll  all  be  spick  and  span  for  you." 

Katherine  assented.  "I've  been  down  here 
so  often  and  never  seen  them,"  she  said.  "It 
seems  odd,  considering  the  years  we've 
known  each  other." 

"I  only  took  it  up  after  father's  death," 
said  Dick.  "And  since  then,  you  know,  you 
haven't  been  here  so  very  often." 

"It  was  only  the  last  time  that  I  discov- 
ered you  took  an  interest  in  the  collection. 
You  hid  your  light  under  a  bushel.  Then  I 
went  to  London  and  heard  that  you  were  a 
great  authority  on  the  subject." 


38  VIVIETTE 

Dick's  tanned  face  reddened  with  pleasure. 

"I  do  know  something  about  it.  You  see, 
guns  and  swords  and  pistols  are  in  my  line. 
I'm  good  at  killing  things.  I  ought  to  have 
been  a  soldier,  only  I  couldn't  pass  examina- 
tions, so  I  sort  of  interest  myself  in  the  old 
weapons  and  do  my  killing  in  imagination." 

"You  give  a  regular  lecture,  don't  you?" 

"Well,  you  know,"  said  Dick  modestly,  "a 
lot  of  them  are  historical.  There's  a  mace 
used  by  a  bishop,  an  ancestor  of  ours.  He 
couldn't  wield  a  sword  in  battle,  so  he  cot- 
toned on  to  that,  and  in  order  to  salve  his 
conscience  before  using  it  he  would  cry  out 
'Gare!  gare!' — and  they  say  that's  what  our 
name  comes  from — see?  'Ware — Ware.' 
He  was  the  founder  of  our  family — though, 
of  course,  he  oughtn't  to  have  been.  And 
then  we  have  the  duelling  pistols  my  great- 
grandfather shot  Lord  Estcourt  with. 
They're  beautiful  things — in  the  case  just  as 
he  left  it  after  the  duel,  with  powder,  balls, 


THE  BROTHERS  39 

and  caps,  all  complete.  It's  a  romantic 
story " 

"My  dear  Dick,"  interposed  Mrs.  Ware, 
with  fragile,  uplifted  hand,  "please  don't  of- 
fend us  with  these  horrible  family  scandals. 
Katherine,  dear,  are  you  going  to  the  vicar's 
garden  party  this  afternoon?  If  you  are, 
will  you  take  a  message  to  Mrs.  Cook?" 

So  Katherine  being  monopolized,  Dick 
was  silenced,  and  as  Austin  and  Viviette 
were  talking  in  a  lively  but  unintelligible 
way  about  a  thing,  or  a  play,  or  a  horse 
called  Nietzsche,  he  relapsed  into  the  heavy, 
full-blooded  man's  animal  enjoyment  of  his 
food  and  the  sensitive's  consciousness  of 
heartache. 

When  the  ladies  had  left  the  table  and  the 
coffee  had  been  brought  in,  and  the  men's 
cigars  were  lit,  Austin  said: 

"What  a  magnificently  beautiful  creature 
she  has  grown  into." 

"Whom  do  you  mean?"  asked  Dick, 


40  VIVIETTE 

"Why,  Viviette,  of  course.  She's  the  most 
fascinating  thing  I've  come  across  for  years." 

"Do  you  think  so?"  said  Dick  shortly. 

"Don't  you?" 

Dick  shrugged  his  shoulders.  Austin 
laughed. 

"What  a  stolid  old  beggar  you  are.  To 
you,  she's  just  the  same  little  girl  that  used 
to  run  about  here  in  short  frocks.  If  she 
were  a  horse  you'd  have  a  catalogue  yards 
long  of  her  points." 

"But  as  she's  a  lady,"  said  Dick,  tugging 
his  moustache,  "I  don't  care  to  catalogue 
them." 

Austin  laughed  again.  "Fairly  scored!" 
He  raised  his  cup  to  his  lips,  took  a  sip,  and 
set  it  down  again. 

"Why  on  earth,"  said  he  with  some  petu- 
lance, "can't  mother  give  us  decent  coffee?" 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  CONSPIBATOBS 

T""\ICK  went  heavy-hearted  to  bed  that 
*~*  night,  pronouncing  himself  to  he  the 
most  abjectly  miserable  of  God's  creatures, 
and  calling  on  Providence  to  remove  him 
speedily  from  an  unsympathetic  world.  He 
had  said  good  night  to  the  ladies  at  eleven 
o'clock  when  the  three  went  upstairs  to  bed, 
and  had  forthwith  gone  to  spend  the  rest  of 
the  evening  in  the  friendly  solitude  of  his 
armoury.  Emerging  thence  an  hour  later 
into  the  hall,  he  had  come  upon  a  picturesque, 
but  heart-rending,  spectacle.  There,  on  the 
third  step  of  the  grand  staircase,  stood  Vivi- 
ette,  holding  in  one  hand  a  candle,  and  ex- 
tending the  other  regally  downwards  to  Aus- 
tin, who,  with  sleek  head  bent,  was  pressing 

41. 


42  VIVIETTE 

it  to  his  lips.  In  the  candle-light  her  hair 
threw  disconcerting  shadows  over  her  elfin 
face,  and  her  great  eyes  seemed  to  glow  with 
a  magical  intensity  that  poor  Dick  had  never 
seen  in  them  before.  As  soon  as  he  had  ap- 
peared she  had  broken  into  her  low  laugh, 
drawn  away  her  hand  from  Austin,  and,  de- 
scending the  steps,  extended  it  in  much  the 
same  regal  manner  to  Dick. 

"Good  night  again,  Dick,"  she  said 
sweetly.  "Austin  and  I  have  been  having  a 
little  talk." 

But  he  had  disregarded  the  hand,  and, 
with  a  gruff  "Good  night,"  had  returned  to 
his  armoury,  slamming  the  door  behind  him. 
There  he  had  nourished  his  wrath  on  more 
whiskey  and  soda  than  was  good  for  him, 
and  crawled  upstairs  in  the  small  hours  to 
miserable  sleeplessness. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  Dick's  undoing, 
the  gods  (abetted  by  Viviette)  employing 
their  customary  procedure  of  first  driving 


THE  CONSPIRATORS          43 

him  mad.  But  Viviette  was  not  altogether 
a  guilty  abettor.  Indeed,  all  day  long,  she 
had  entertained  high  notions  of  acting  fairy 
godmother,  and  helping  Dick  along  the  road 
to  fortune  and  content.  He  himself,  she 
learned,  had  taken  no  steps  to  free  himself 
from  his  present  mode  of  life.  He  had  not 
even  confided  in  Austin.  Viviette  ran  over 
the  list  of  her  influential  friends.  There  was 
Lady  Winsmere,  a  dowager  countess  of  sev- 
enty, surrounded  by  notabilities,  at  whose 
house  she  stayed  now  and  then  in  London. 
On  the  last  occasion  an  Agent-General  for 
one  of  the  great  Colonies  had  sat  next  her  at 
dinner.  Then  there  was  her  friend  Mrs. 
Penderby,  whose  husband  gathered  enor- 
mous wealth  in  some  mysterious  way  in  Mark 
Lane.  Why  should  she  not  go  up  to  London 
and  open  a  campaign  on  Dick's  behalf,  se- 
cure him  an  appointment,  and  come  back 
flourishing  it  before  his  dazzled  and  delighted 
eyes?  The  prospect  was  enchanting.  The 


44  VIVIETTE 

fairy  godmother  romance  of  it  fascinated  her 
girlish  mind.  But  first  she  must  clear  the 
ground  at  home.  There  must  be  no  opposi- 
tion from  Austin.  He  must  be  her  ally. 

When  a  woman  gets  an  idea  like  this  into 
her  head  she  must  execute  it,  as  the  Ameri- 
cans say,  right  now.  A  man  waits,  counts 
up  all  the  barriers,  and  speculates  on  the 
strength  and  courage  of  the  lions  in  the  path 
— but  a  woman  goes  straight  forward,  and 
does  not  worry  about  the  lions  till  they  bite 
her.  Viviette  resolved  to  speak  to  Austin 
at  once;  but,  owing  to  a  succession  of  the 
little  ironies  of  circumstance,  she  found  no 
opportunity  of  doing  so  all  the  afternoon  or 
evening.  It  was  only  when,  standing  ^at  the 
top  of  the  stairs,  she  had  seen  Dick  go  off  to 
the  armoury,  and  Austin  return  to  the  draw- 
ing-room— for  the  men  had  bidden  the  ladies 
good  night  in  the  hall — that  she  saw  her 
chance.  She  went  downstairs  and  opened  the 
drawing-room  door. 


THE  CONSPIRATORS          45 

"I  don't  want  to  go  to  bed  after  all.  Do 
you  think  you  can  do  with  me  a  little 
longer?" 

"A  great  deal  longer,"  he  said,  drawing 
a  chair  for  her,  and  arranging  the  shade  of 
a  lamp  so  that  the  light  should  not  shine  full 
in  her  eyes.  "I  was  just  thinking  how  dull 
the  room  looked  without  you — as  if  all  the 
flowers  had  suddenly  been  taken  away." 

"I  suppose  I  am  decorative,"  she  said 
blandly. 

"You're  bewitching.  What  instinct  made 
you  choose  that  shade  of  pale  green  for  your 
frock?  If  I  had  seen  it  in  the  pattern  I 
should  have  said  it  was  impossible  for  your 
colouring.  But  now  it  seems  to  be  the  only 
perfect  thing  you  could  wear." 

She  laughed  her  little  laugh  of  pleasure, 
and  thanked  him  prettily  for  the  compliment. 
They  bandied  gay  words  for  a  while. 

"Oh,  I'm  so  glad  you  have  come  down — 
even  for  this  short  visit,"  said  Viviette  at 


46  VIVIETTE 

last.  "I  was  pining  for  talk,  for  wit,  for  a 
breath  of  the  great  world  beyond  these  sleepy 
meadows.  You  bring  all  that  with  you." 

Austin  leaned  forward.  "How  do  you 
know  I'm  not  bringing  even  more?" 

The  girl's  eyes  drooped  before  his  gaze. 
Then  she  fluttered  a  glance  at  him  in  which 
there  was  a  gleam  of  mockery. 

"You  bring  the  most  valuable  gift  of  all — 
appreciation  of  my  frocks.  I  love  people  to 
notice  them.  Now  Dick  is  frock-blind.  Why 
is  that?" 

"He's  a  dear  old  duffer,"  said  Austin. 

"I  don't  think  he's  happy,"  said  Viviette, 
who,  in  her  feminine  way,  had  worked  round 
to  the  subject  of  the  interview. 

"He  did  seem  rather  cut  up  about  the 
stables,"  Austin  admitted.  "But  the  things 
are  an  eyesore,  and  mother  was  worrying 
herself  to  death  about  them." 

"It  isn't  only  the  stables,"  said  Viviette. 
"Dick  is  altogether  discontented." 


THE  CONSPIRATORS         47 

Austin  looked  at  her  in  amazement.  'Dis- 
contented?" 

"He  wants  something  to  do." 

"Nonsense,"  he  laughed,  with  the  air  of  a 
man  certain  of  his  facts.  "He's  as  happy 
as  a  king  here.  He  shoots  and  hunts — looks 
after  the  place — runs  the  garden  and  potters 
about  in  his  armoury — in  fact,  does  just  what 
he  likes  all  day  long.  He  goes  to  bed  with- 
out a  care  sharing  his  pillow,  and,  when  he 
wakes  up,  gets  into  comfortable  country 
clothes  instead  of  a  tight-fitting  suit  of  re- 
sponsibilities. For  a  man  of  his  tastes  he 
leads  an  ideal  existence." 

He  threw  away  the  end  of  the  cigarette 
he  was  smoking,  as  though  to  say  that  the 
argument  was  finished.  But  Viviette  re- 
garded him  with  a  smile — the  smile  of 
woman's  superior  wisdom.  How  astonish- 
ingly little  he  knew  of  Dick! 

"Do  you  really  think  there  is  one  contented 


48  VIVIETTE 

being  on  earth?"  she  asked.  "Even  I  know 
better  than  that." 

Austin  maintained  that  Dick  ought  to  be 
contented. 

"Dependent  for  practically  all  he  has  on 
you?" 

"I've  never  let  him  feel  it,"  he  said  quickly. 

"He  does,  though.  He  wants  to  get  away 
— to  earn  his  own  living — make  a  way  for 
himself." 

"That's  the  first  I've  heard  of  it,"  said 
Austin,  genuinely  surprised.  "I  really 
thought  he  was  perfectly  contented  here.  Of 
course,  now  and  then  he's  grumpy — but  he 
always  has  had  fits  of  grumpiness.  What 
kind  of  work  does  he  want?" 

"Something  to  do  with  sheep  or  cattle — in 
Arizona  or  New  Zealand — the  place  doesn't 
matter — any  open-air  life." 

Austin  lit  another  cigarette  and  walked 
about  the  room.  He  was  a  man  of  well- 
regulated  habits,  and  did  not  like  being 


THE  CONSPIRATORS         49 

taken  unawares.  Dick  ought  to  have  told 
him.  Then  there  was  their  mother.  Who 
would  look  after  her?  Dick  was  a  dispensa- 
tion of  Providence. 

"Perhaps  I  might  be  a  deputy  dispensa- 
tion, mightn't  I?"  said  Viviette.  "I  don't 
think  mother  is  so  desperately  attached  to 
Dick  as  all  that.  It  could  be  arranged  some- 
how or  other.  And  Dick  is  growing  more 
and  more  wretched  about  it  every  day. 
Every  day  he  pours  out  his  woes  to  me  till 
I  can  almost  howl  with  misery." 

"What  do  you  want  me  to  do?" 

"Not  to  stand  in  his  way  if  he  gets  a  chance 
of  going  abroad." 

"Of  course  I  won't,"  cried  Austin  eagerly. 
"It  never  entered  my  head  that  he  wanted 
to  go  away.  I  would  do  anything  in  the 
world  for  his  happiness,  poor  old  chap.  I 
love  Dick  very  deeply.  In  spite  of  his  huge 
bulk  and  rough  ways  there's  something  of 
the  woman  in  him  that  makes  one  love  him." 


50  VIVIETTE 

They  catalogued  Dick's  virtues,  and  then 
Viviette  unfolded  her  scheme.  One  or  other 
of  the  powerful  personages  whom,  in  her 
young  confidence,  she  proposed  to  attack, 
would  surely  know  of  some  opening  abroad. 

"Even  humble  I  sometimes  hear  of 
things,"  said  Austin.  "Only  a  day  or  two 
ago  old  Lord  Overton  asked  me  if  I  knew 
of  a  man  who  could  manage  a  timber  forest 
he's  got  in  Vancouver " 

Viviette  jumped  up  and  clapped  her 
hands. 

"Why,  that's  the  very  thing  for  Dick!" 
she  cried  exultingly. 

"God  bless  my  soul!"  said  Austin.  "So  it 
is.  I  never  thought  of  it." 

"If  you  get  it  for  him  I'll  thank  you  in 
the  sweetest  way  possible."  She  glanced  at 
him  swiftly,  under  her  eyelids.  "I  promise 
you  I  will." 

"Then  I'll  certainly  get  it,"  replied  Aus- 
tin. 


THE  CONSPIRATORS         51 

Austin  then  went  into  details.  Lord 
Overton  wanted  a  man  of  education — a  gen- 
tleman— one  who  could  ride  and  shoot  and 
make  others  work.  He  would  have  to  super- 
intend the  planting  and  the  cutting  and  the 
transportation  of  timber,  and  act  as  agent 
for  the  various  farms  Lord  Overton  pos- 
sessed in  the  wide  district.  The  salary  would 
be  £700  a  year.  The  late  superintendent  had 
suddenly  died,  and  Lord  Overton  wanted  a 
man  to  go  out  at  once  and  fill  his  place.  If 
only  he  had  thought  of  Dick! 

"But  you're  thinking  of  him  now.  It  can't 
be  too  late — men  with  such  qualifications 
aren't  picked  up  at  every  street  corner." 

"That's  quite  true,"  said  Austin.  "And 
as  for  my  recommendation,"  he  added  in  his 
confident  way,  "Lord  Overton  and  I  are  on 
such  terms  that  he  would  not  hesitate  to  give 
the  appointment  to  a  brother  of  mine.  I'll 
write  at  once." 


52  VIVIETTE 

"And  we'll  say  nothing  to  Dick  until 
we've  got  it  all  in  black  and  white." 

"Not  a  word,"  said  he. 

Then  they  burst  out  laughing  like  happy 
conspirators,  and  enjoyed  beforehand  the 
success  of  their  plot. 

"The  old  place  will  be  very  strange  with- 
out him,"  said  Austin. 

A  shadow  passed  over  Viviette's  bright 
face.  The  manor-house  would  indeed  be 
very  lonely.  Her  occupation  as  Dick's  liege 
lady,  confidante,  and  tormentor  would  be 
gone.  Parting  from  him  would  be  a  wrench. 
There  would  be  a  dreadful  scene  at  the  last 
moment,  in  which  he  would  want  to  hold  her 
tight  in  his  arms  and  make  her  promise  to 
join  him  in  Vancouver.  She  shivered  a  lit- 
tle; then  tossed  her  head  as  if  to  throw  off 
the  disturbing  thoughts. 

"Don't  let  us  look  at  the  dismal  side  of 
things.  It's  selfish.  All  we  want  is  Dick's 
happiness."  She  glanced  at  the  clock  and 


THE  CONSPIRATORS          53 

started  up.  "It's  midnight.  If  Katherine 
knew  I  was  here  she  would  lecture  me." 

"It's  nothing  very  dreadful,"  he  laughed. 
"Nor  is  Katherine's  lecture." 

"I  call  her  Saint  Nitouche — but  she's  a 
great  dear,  isn't  she?  Good  night." 

He  accompanied  her  to  the  foot  of  the 
stairs  and  lit  her  candle.  On  the  third  stair 
she  paused. 

"Remember — in  all  this  it's  I  who  am  the 
fairy  godmother." 

"And  I,"  said  Austin,  "am  nothing  but 
the  fairy  godmother's  humble  and  devoted 
factotum."  He  took  the  hand  which  she 
extended  and,  bending  over  it,  kissed  it  gal- 
lantly. 

Then  by  unhappy  chance  out  came  Dick 
from  the  armoury,  and  beheld  the  spectacle 
which  robbed  him  of  his  peace  of  mind. 

The  next  morning,  when  Dick  came  down 
gloomily  to  breakfast,  she  was  very  gentle 
with  him,  and  administered  tactfully  to  his 


54  VIVIETTE 

wants.  She  insisted  on  going  to  the  side- 
board and  carving  his  cold  ham,  of  which  he 
ate  prodigious  quantities  after  a  hot  first 
course,  and  when  she  put  the  plate  before 
him  laid  a  caressing  touch  on  his  shoulder. 
She  neglected  Austin  in  a  bare-faced  man- 
ner, and  drew  Dick  into  reluctant  and  then 
animated  talk  on  his  prize  roses  and  a  setter 
pup  just  recovering  from  distemper.  After 
the  meal  she  went  with  him  round  the  gar- 
den, inspected  both  roses  and  puppy,  and 
manifested  great  interest  in  a  trellis  he  was 
constructing  for  the  accommodation  later  in 
the  summer  of  some  climbing  cucumbers,  at 
present  only  visible  as  modest  leaves  in 
flower-pots.  Neither  made  any  reference  to 
the  little  scene  of  the  night  before.  Morning 
had  brought  to  Dick  the  conviction  that  in 
refusing  her  hand  and  slamming  the  door 
he  had  behaved  in  an  unpardonably  bearish 
manner;  and  he  could  not  apologise  for  his 
behaviour  unless  he  confessed  his  jealousy  of 


THE  CONSPIRATORS        55 

Austin,  which,  in  all  probability,  would  have 
subjected  him  to  the  mocking  ridicule  of 
Viviette — a  thing  which,  above  all  others,  he 
dreaded,  and  against  which  he  knew  himself 
to  be  defenceless.  Viviette,  too,  found  silence 
golden.  She  knew  perfectly  well  why  Dick 
had  slammed  the  door.  An  explanation 
would  have  been  absurd.  It  would  have 
interfered  with  her  relations  with  Austin, 
which  were  beginning  to  be  exciting.  But 
she  loved  Dick  in  her  heart  for  being  a  bear, 
and  evinced  both  her  compunction  and  her 
appreciation  in  peculiar  graciousness. 

"You've  never  asked  me  to  try  the  new 
mare,"  she  said.  "I  don't  think  it  a  bit  kind 
of  you." 

"Would  you  care  to?"  he  asked  eagerly. 

"Of  course  I  should.  I  love  to  see  you 
with  horses.  You  and  the  trap  and  the  horse 
seem  to  be  as  much  one  mechanism  as  a 
motor-car." 

"I  can  make  a  horse  do  what  I  want,"  he 


56  VIVIETTE 

said,  delighted  at  the  compliment.  "We'll 
take  the  dog-cart.  When  will  you  come? 
This  morning?" 

"Yes — let  us  say  eleven.  It  will  be  lovely." 

"I'll  have  it  round  at  eleven  o'clock.  You'll 
see.  She's  a  flyer." 

"So  am  I,"  she  said  with  a  laugh,  and 
pointed  to  the  front  gate,  which  a  garden 
lad  had  just  run  to  open  to  admit  a  young 
man  on  horseback. 

"Oh,  lord!  it's  Banstead,"  said  Dick  with 
a  groan. 

"Au  revoir — eleven  o'clock,"  said  Viviette, 
and  she  fled. 

Lord  Banstead  dismounted,  gave  his  horse 
to  the  lad,  and  came  up  to  Dick.  He  was  an 
unhealthy,  dissipated-looking  young  man, 
with  lustreless  eyes,  a  characterless  chin,  and 
an  underfed  moustache.  He  wore  a  light 
blue  hunting  stock,  fastened  by  a  ruby  fox 
in  full  gallop,  and  a  round  felt  hat  with  a 
very  narrow  flat  brim,  beneath  which  pro- 


THE  CONSPIRATORS         57 

traded  strands  of  Andrew  aguecheek  hair. 

"Hallo,  Banstead,"  said  Dick,  not  very 
cordially. 

"Hallo,"  said  the  other,  halting  before  the 
rose-bed,  where  Dick  was  tying  up  some 
blooms  with  bast.  He  watched  him  for  a 
mo/nent  or  two.  Conversation  was  not  spon- 
taneous. 

"Where's  Viviette?"  he  asked  eventually, 

"Who?"  growled  Dick. 

"Rot.  What's  the  good  of  frills?  Miss 
Hastings." 

"Busy.    She'll  be  busy  all  the  morning." 

"I  rather  wanted  to  see  her." 

"I  don't  think  you  will.  You  might  ring 
at  the  front  door  and  send  in  your  card." 

"I  might,"  said  Banstead,  lighting  a  cigar. 
He  had  tried  this  method  of  seeing  Viviette 
before,  but  without  success.  There  was  an- 
other pause.  Dick  snipped  off  an  end  of 
bast. 

"You're  up  very  early,"  said  he. 


58  VIVIETTE 

"Went  to  bed  so  bally  sober  I  couldn't 
sleep,"  replied  the  misguided  youth.  "Not  a 
soul  in  the  house,  I  give  you  my  word.  So 
bored  last  night  I  took  a  gun  and  tried  to 
shoot  cats.  Shot  a  damn  cock  pheasant  by 
mistake,  and  had  to  bury  the  thing  in  my 
own  covers.  If  I'm  left  to  myself  to-night 
I'll  get  drunk  and  go  out  shooting  tenants. 
Come  over  and  dine." 

"Can't,"  said  Dick. 

"Do.  I'll  open  a  bottle  of  the  governor's 
old  port.  Then  we  can  play  billiards,  or 
piquet,  or  cat's-cradle,  or  any  rotten  thing 
you  like." 

Dick  excused  himself  curtly.  Austin  had 
come  down  for  Whitsuntide,  and  a  lady  was 
staying  in  the  house.  Lord  Banstead  pushed 
his  hat  to  the  back  of  his  head. 

"Then  what  the  devil  am  I  to  do  in  this 
hole  of  a  place?" 

"Don't  know,"  said  Dick. 

"You  fellows  in  the  country  are  so  un- 


THE  CONSPIRATORS         59 

friendly.  In  town  I  never  need  dine  alone. 
Anyone's  glad  to  see  me.  Feeding  all  by 
myself  in  that  dining-room  fairly  gives  me 
the  pip." 

"Then  come  and  dine  here,"  said  Dick, 
unable  to  refuse  a  neighbour  hospitality. 

"Right,"  said  Banstead.  "That  is  really 
like  the  Samaritan  Johnnie.  I'll  come  with 
pleasure." 

"Quarter  to  eight." 

Banstead  hesitated.  "Couldn't  you  make 
it  a  quarter  past?" 

Dick  stared.  "Alter  our  dinner  hour? 
You've  rather  a  nerve,  haven't  you,  Ban- 
stead?" 

"I  wouldn't  suggest  it,  if  we  weren't  pals," 
replied  the  other,  grinning  somewhat  shame- 
facedly. "But  the  fact  is  I've  got  an  ap- 
pointment late  this  afternoon."  The  fatuity 
of  vicious  and  coroneted  youth  outstripped 
his  discretion.  "There's  a  devilish  pretty 
girl,  you  know,  at  'The  Green  Man'  at  Little 


60  VIVIETTE 

Barton;  I  don't  know  whether  I  can  get 
away  in  time." 

Dick  stuffed  his  bast  in  his  pocket,  and 
muttered  things  uncomplimentary  to  Ban- 
stead. 

"Dinner's  at  a  quarter  to  eight.  You  can 
take  it  or  leave  it,"  said  he. 

"I  suppose  I've  jolly  well  got  to  take  it," 
said  Banstead,  unruffled.  "Anything's  bet- 
ter than  going  through  dinner  from  soup  to 
dessert  all  alone  under  the  fishy  eye  of  that 
butling  image  of  a  Jenkins.  He  was  thirty 
years  in  my  governor's  service,  and  doesn't 
understand  my  ways.  I  guess  I'll  have  to 
chuck  him." 

A  perspiring,  straw-hatted  postman 
lurched  along  the  gravel  drive  with  the  morn- 
ing's post.  He  touched  his  hat  to  Dick, 
delivered  the  Manor  House  bag  into  his 
hands,  and  departed. 

"I'll  sort  these  in  the  morning-room,"  said 
Dick,  moving  in  the  direction  of  the  house, 


THE  CONSPIRATORS         61 

and  Lord  Banstead,  hoping  to  see  Viviette, 
followed  at  his  heels.  The  control  of  the 
family  post  was  one  of  the  few  privileges 
Dick  retained  as  master  of  the  house.  His 
simple  mind  still  regarded  the  receipt  and 
despatch  of  letters  as  a  solemn  affair  of  life, 
and  every  morning  he  went  through  tthe 
process  of  distribution  with  ceremonial  ob- 
servance. In  the  morning-room  they  found 
Austin  and  Viviette,  the  former  writing  in 
a  corner,  the  latter  reading  a  novel  by  the 
French  window  that  opened  on  to  the  ter- 
race. Dick  went  up  to  a  table,  and,  opening 
the  mail-bag,  began  to  sort  the  letters  into 
various  heaps.  Austin  greeted  Lord  Ban- 
stead  none  too  warmly,  and,  with  scarcely 
an  apology,  went  back  to  his  writing.  He 
disapproved  of  Banstead,  who  was  of  a  type 
particularly  antagonistic  to  the  young,  clean, 
and  successful  barrister.  When  Viviette  had 
informed  him  of  the  youth's  presence  in  the 
garden,  he  had  exclaimed  impatiently: 


62  VIVIETTE 

"It  ought  to  be  somebody's  business  to 
go  round  the  world  occasionally  with  a  broom 
and  sweep  away  spiders  like  that." 

Viviette,  mindful  of  the  invective,  received 
Lord  Banstead  with  a  smile  of  amusement. 
As  she  had  two  protectors  against  a  fifth 
proposal  of  marriage,  she  stood  her  ground. 

"I  expected  you  to  come  over  yesterday," 
she  said. 

"No,  did  you  really?"  he  exclaimed,  a  flush 
rising  to  his  pale  cheeks.  "If  I  had  thought 
that  I  should  have  come." 

"You've  made  up  for  it  by  arriving  early 
to-day,  at  any  rate,"  said  Viviette. 

"And  I'm  making  up  for  it  further  by 
coming  to  dinner  to-night.  Dick  asked  me," 
he  added,  seeing  the  polite  questioning  in  her 
eyes. 

"That  will  be  very  nice,"  she  said.  "You 
can  talk  to  mother.  You  see,  Dick  talks  to 
Mrs.  Holroyd,  who  is  staying  with  us,  Aus- 
tin talks  to  me,  so  poor  mother  is  left  out  in 


THE  CONSPIRATORS          63 

the  cold.    She'll  enjoy  a  nice  long  talk  with 

you." 

When  Banstead  took  the  chorus  out  to 
supper  he  had  the  ready  repartee  of  his  kind. 
In  such  a  case  he  would  have  told  the  lady 
not  to  pull  his  leg.  But  the  delicate  mockery 
in  Viviette's  face  seemed  to  forbid  the  use 
of  this  figure  of  speech,  and  as  his  vocabu- 
lary did  not  readily  allow  him  to  formulate 
the  idea  in  other  terms  he  said  nothing,  but 
settled  his  stock,  and  looked  at  her  adoringly. 
At  last  he  bent  forward,  after  a  glance  at 
the  protectors,  and  said  in  a  low  tone : 

"Come  out  into  the  garden.  I've  some- 
thing to  say  to  you." 

"Why  not  say  it  here?"  she  replied  in  her 
ordinary  voice. 

Banstead  bit  his  lip.  He  would  have  liked 
to  call  her  a  little  devil.  But  he  reflected 
that  if  he  did  she  would  be  quite  capable  of 
repeating  the  phrase  aloud,  somewhat  to  the 
astonishment  of  Dick  and  Austin,  who  might 


64  VIVIETTE 

ask  for  embarrassing  explanations.  Instead 
he  bent  still  nearer,  and  whispered: 

"I  can  only  say  it  to  you  alone.  I've  been 
awake  all  night  thinking  of  it — give  you  my 
word." 

"Wait  till  to-morrow  morning,  and  by  then 
you  may  have  slept  upon  it,"  she  counselled. 

"You'll  drive  me  to  drink!"  he  murmured. 

She  rose  with  a  laugh.  "In  that  case  I 
must  go.  I  ought  to  be  labelled  'dangerous.' 
Don't  you  think  so,  Dick?  Besides,  I'm  go- 
ing for  a  drive,  and  must  put  on  my  things. 
These  my  letters?  Au  revoir."  And,  with 
a  wave  of  her  hand  she  left  them. 

Banstead  lingered  by  the  threshold  and 
took  up  an  illustrated  paper.  The  maid,  in 
response  to  Dick's  summons,  bore  away  the 
letters  for  the  rest  of  the  household.  Austin 
and  Dick  concerned  themselves  with  their 
correspondence,  Dick's  chiefly  consisting  of 
gardeners'  catalogues. 


THE  CONSPIRATORS          65 

For  a  while  there  was  silence.  It  was 
broken  by  a  loud  laugh  from  Austin. 

"Dick!  I  say,  Dick!  What  do  you  think 
these  village  idiots  have  asked  me  to  do?  To 
accept  their  nomination  and  stand  as  a  Rural 
District  Councillor!  Me!" 

Dick  quickly  crossed  to  the  table  where 
his  brother  was  sitting. 

"That's  my  letter,  old  chap.  I  must  have 
put  it  in  your  heap  by  mistake.  The  invita- 
tion is  meant  for  me." 

"You?"  laughed  Austin.  "Why,  what  do 
you  want  to  fool  about  with  village  politics 
for?  No.  The  letter  is  meant  for  me  right 
enough." 

"I  can't  understand  it,"  said  Dick. 

Lord  Banstead  looked  up  from  his  paper. 

"That  the  Rural  District  Council?  I'm 
on  the  committee.  Had  a  meeting  yester- 
day. I'm  chairman  of  the  silly  rotters." 

"Then  your  silly  rotter  of  an  honorary  sec- 
retary," cried  Dick  angrily,  "has  sent  Austin 


66  VIVIETTE 

the  letter  of  invitation  that  was  meant  for 


me." 


"Oh,  no,  he  didn't,"  said  Banstead.  "It's 
all  right.  They  chucked  you,  old  son.  Now 
I  remember.  I  promised  to  explain." 

Dick  turned  aside.  "Oh,  you  needn't  ex- 
plain," he  said  bitterly. 

"But  I  must.  They  had  their  reasons, 
you  know.  They  thought  they'd  rather  have 
a  brainy  nobleman  like  your  brother  than  a 
good  old  rotter  like  you.  You're " 

"Oh,  hold  your  tongue,  Banstead,"  cried 
Austin,  rising  and  putting  his  hand  on 
Dick's  shoulder.  "Really,  my  dear  old  Dick, 
you're  the  right  person  to  stand.  They  only 
thought  a  lawyer  could  help  them — but  I'm 

far  too   busy — of   course   I    decline.     I'm 

• 

deeply  pained,  Dick,  at  having  hurt  you. 
I'll  write  to  the  committee  and  point  out 
how  much  fitter,  as  a  country  gentleman, 
you  are  for  the  duties  than  I  am.  They're 
bound  to  ask  you." 


THE  CONSPIRATORS         67 

Dick  swung  away  passionately,  his  lips 
quivering  with  anger  and  mortification  be- 
neath his  great  moustache.  , 

"Do  you  think  I  would  accept?  I'm 
damned  if  I  would.  Do  you  expect  me  to 
pick  up  everything  you Ve  thrown  in  the  mud 
and  feel  grateful?  I'm  damned  if  I  will!" 

He  flung  out  of  the  room  on  to  the  terrace 
and  strode  away  in  a  rage. 

"Seems  to  take  it  badly,"  remarked  Ban- 
stead,  looking  at  his  disappearing  figure.  "I 
had  better  say  good-bye." 

"Good-bye,"  said  Austin.  And  he  added, 
as  he  accompanied  him  with  grim  politeness 
to  the  front  gate,  "if  you  exercise  the  same 
tact  in  the  chair  as  you've  done  here,  your 
meetings  must  be  a  huge  success." 

He  returned  with  a  shrug  of  the  shoulders 
to  his  table  in  the  morning-room.  He  was 
deeply  attached  to  Dick,  but  a  lifelong  habit 
of  regarding  him  as  a  good-natured,  stupid, 
and  contented  giant  blinded  him  to  the  storm 


68  VIVIETTE 

that  was  beginning  to  rage  in  the  other's 
soul.  The  occurrence  was  unfortunate.  It 
wounded  the  poor  old  fellow's  vanity.  Ban- 
stead's  blatant  folly  had  been  enough  to  set 
any  man  in  a  rage.  But,  after  all,  Dick  was 
a  common-sense  creature,  and,  recognising 
that  Austin  was  in  no  way  to  blame,  he  would 
soon  get  over  it.  Meanwhile,  there  was 
awaiting  him  the  joyful  surprise  of  Van- 
couver, which  would  soon  put  such  petty 
mortifications  out  of  his  head.  Thus  Austin 
consoled  himself,  and  settled  down  to  the 
serious  matters  of  his  correspondence. 

Viviette,  coming  in  later  in  hat  and  jacket, 
found  him  busily  writing.  He  looked  up  at 
her  admiringly  as  she  stood  against  the  back- 
ground of  light  framed  by  the  great  French 
window. 

"Am  I  presentable?"  she  asked,  with  a 
smile,  interpreting  his  glance. 

"Each  modification  of  your  dress  makes 
you  seem  more  bewitching  than  the  last." 


THE  CONSPIRATORS         69 

"I  trimmed  this  hat  myself,"  she  said,  com- 
ing into  the  room,  and  looking  at  herself  in 
a  Queen  Anne  mirror  on  the  wall. 

"That's  why  it's  so  becoming,"  said  Aus- 
tin. 

She  wheeled  round  on  him  with  a  laugh. 
"You  really  ought  to  say  something  cleverer 
than  that!" 

"How  can  I,"  he  replied,  "when  you  drive 
my  wits  away?" 

"Poor  me,"  she  said.  And  then,  suddenly, 
"Where's  Dick?" 

"What  do  you  want  Dick  for?" 

"He  promised  to  take  me  for  a  drive." 
She  consulted  the  watch  on  her  wrist.  "It's 
past  eleven  now." 

"I'm  afraid  poor  Dick  is  rather  upset. 
He  seems  to  have  been  counting  on  being 
nominated  to  stand  for  the  Rural  District 
Council,  and  the  imbeciles  invited  me  in- 
stead." 

"Oh,  how  could  they?"  she  cried,  smitten 


70  VIVIETTE 

with  a  great  pity.  "How  could  they  be  so 
stupid  and  cruel?  I  know  all  about  it.  He 
told  me  yesterday.  He  must  be  bitterly  dis- 
appointed." 

Austin  did  not  tell  her  of  Lord  Banstead's 
tactful  explanation  of  the  committee's  action. 
He  was  a  fastidious  man,  and  did  not  care 
to  soil  his  mind  with  the  memory  of  Ban- 
stead's  existence.  If  he  had  described  the 
scene,  the  young  man's  vulgarity,  his  own 
attempt  at  conciliation,  and  Dick's  passion- 
ate outburst — the  course  of  the  drama  that 
was  shaping  itself  might  have  been  altered. 
But  the  stars  in  their  courses  were  fighting 
against  Dick.  Austin  only  said : 

"If  we  get  him  this  appointment,  it  will 
be  ample  compensation,  anyhow." 

"Please  don't  say  'if,'  "  exclaimed  Viviette, 
"we  must  get  it." 

"Unless  Lord  Overton  has  already  found 
a  man,  which  is  unlikely,  owing  to  the  gen- 


THE  CONSPIRATORS         71 

eral  suspension  of  business  at  Whitsuntide, 
it's  practically  a  certainty." 

"When  shall  we  know?" 

"My  letter's  written  and  is  waiting  for 
the  post.  If  he  replies  by  return  we  shall 
hear  the  day  after  to-morrow." 

"That  is  such  a  long  time  to  wait.  Do 
you  know  what  to-morrow  is?" 

"Wednesday,"  said  Austin. 

"It's  Dick's  birthday."  She  clapped  her 
hands  at  a  happy  inspiration,  and  hung  on 
his  arm.  "Oh,  Austin!  If  we  could  only 
give  him  the  appointment  as  a  birthday 
present!" 

Her  touch,  her  fresh  charm,  the  eagerness 
in  her  eyes  roused  him  to  unwonted  enthusi- 
asm. In  his  sane  moments  he  did  not  care  a 
fig  for  anybody's  birthday.  What  man  ever 
does?  He  proclaimed  the  splendour  of  her 
idea.  But  how  was  it  to  be  realised? 

"Send  a  long  prepaid  telegram  to  Lord 
Overton,  of  course,"  said  Viviette  trium- 


72  ,VIVIETTE 

phantly.     (How  unresourceful  are  men!) 
"Then  we  can  get  an  answer  to-day." 

"You  forget  the  nearest  telegraph  office 
is  at  Witherby,  seven  miles  off." 

"But  Dick  and  I  are  going  for  a  drive. 
I'll  make  him  go  to  Witherby  and  I'll  send 
the  telegram.  Write  it." 

She  drew  him  in  her  caressing  way  to  the 
table,  seated  him  in  the  chair,  and  laid  the 
block  of  telegram  forms  before  him.  He 
scribbled  industriously,  and  when  he  had  fin- 
ished handed  her  the  sheets. 

"There!" 

He  fished  in  his  pockets  for  money,  but 
Viviette  checked  him.  She  was  the  fairy 
godmother  in  this  fairy  tale,  and  fairy  god- 
mothers always  held  the  purse.  She  glanced 
again  at  her  watch.  It  was  ten  minutes  past 
eleven. 

"Perhaps  he's  waiting  with  the  trap  for 
me  all  the  time.  Au  revoir." 

"I'll  see  you  off,"  said  Austin. 


THE  CONSPIRATORS          73 

They  went  together  into  the  hall  and 
opened  the  front  door.  The  new  mare  and 
the  dog-cart  in  charge  of  the  stable  lad  were 
there,  but  no  Dick. 

"Where's  Mr.  Ware?" 

"Don't  know,  miss." 

Then  the  Devil  entered  into  Viviette. 
There  is  no  other  explanation.  The  Devil 
entered  into  her. 

"We  must  get  to  Witherby  and  back  be- 
fore lunch.  You  drive  me  over  instead  of 
Dick." 

They  exchanged  glances.  Austin  was 
young.  He  was  in  love  with  her.  Dick  had 
committed  the  unpardonable  offence  of 
being  late.  It  would  serve  him  right. 

"I'll  come,"  said  he,  disappearing  in  search 
of  cap  and  gloves. 

Viviette  went  into  the  hall  and  scribbled  a 
note. 

"Dear  Dick, — You're  late.     Austin  and 


74  VIVIETTE 

I  have  the  most  important  business  to  trans- 
act at  Witherby,  so  he's  driving  me  over. 
We're  preparing  a  great  surprise  for  you. — 
Viviette." 

"Give  this  to  Mr.  Ware,"  she  said  to  the 
stable  boy  as  she  prepared  to  get  into  the 
dog-cart. 

The  boy  touched  his  cap  and  ran  to  open 
the  gate.  Viviette  lightly  mounted  by  Aus- 
tin's side.  They  had  just  turned  into  the 
road  when  Dick  came  racing  through  the 
hall  and  saw  them  disappear.  He  walked 
up  the  drive,  and  met  the  boy  coming  down, 
who  handed  him  the  note,  with  some  words, 
which  he  did  not  hear.  He  watched  the  boy 
out  of  sight.  Then  he  tore  the  note  unread 
into  tiny  fragments,  stamped  them  furiously 
into  the  mould  of  the  nearest  bed,  and,  flying 
into  his  armoury,  threw  himself  into  a  chair 
and  cursed  the  day  that  ever  Austin  was 
born. 


CHAPTER  III 

KATHEEINE 

drive  was  a  memorable  one  for 
•••  many  reasons.  First  the  new  mare 
flew  along  at  an  exhilarating  trot,  as  if  show- 
ing off  her  qualities  to  her  new  masters. 
Then  the  morning  sunshine  flooded  the  soft, 
undulating  Warwickshire  country,  and 
slanted  freshly  through  the  bordering  elms  in 
sweet-scented  lanes.  Summer  flaunted  its 
irresponsible  youth  in  the  faces  of  matronly, 
red-brick  Manor  House,  old  grey  church, 
and  crumbling  cottage,  danced  about  among 
the  crisp  green  leaves,  kissed  the  wayside 
flowers,  and  tossing  up  human  hearts  in  sheer 
gaiety,  played  the  very  deuce  with  them. 
The  drive  also  had  its  altruistic  side.  They 
were  on  an  errand  of  benevolence.  Austin, 

75 


76  VIVIETTE 

his  mind  conscious  of  nothing  but  right,  felt 
the  unusual  glow  of  unselfish  devotion  to 
another's  interests.  When  he  had  awakened 
that  morning  he  had  had  misgivings  as  to 
the  advisability  of  sending  Dick  to  another 
hemisphere.  After  all,  Dick  was  exceed- 
ingly useful  at  Ware  House,  and  saved  him 
a  great  deal  of  trouble.  An  agent  would 
have  to  be  appointed  to  replace  him,  whose 
salary — not  a  very  large  one,  in  view  of  the 
duties  to  be  performed,  but  still  a  salary — 
would  have  to  be  provided  out  of  his,  Aus- 
tin's, pocket.  Who,  again,  could  undertake 
the  permanent  care  of  his  mother?  Viviette 
would  stay  at  home  for  some  little  time ;  but 
she  would  be  marrying  one  of  these  fine  days 
— a  day  which  Austin  had  reasons  for  hop- 
ing would  not  be  very  remote.  He  would 
have  to  make  Heaven  knows  what  arrange- 
ments for  Mrs.  Ware  and  the  general  up- 
keep of  the  Manor  House,  while  he  was  in 
London  carrying  on  his  profession.  De- 


KATHERINE  77 

cidedly,  Dick  had  been  a  godsend,  and  his 
absence  would  be  a  calamity.  In  sending 
him  out  to  Vancouver  Austin  had  all  the 
unalloyed,  pure  pleasure  of  self -sacrifice. 

They  talked  of  Dick  and  Dick's  birthday 
and  Dick's  happiness  most  of  the  way  to 
Witherby.  The  telegram  despatched,  pre- 
paid with  the  porterage  by  Viviette,  Austin 
felt  that  he  had  done  his  duty  by  his  brother, 
and  deserved  some  consideration  on  his  own 
account.  And  here  it  was  that  the  summer 
began  its  game  with  their  hearts.  On  such 
sportive  occasions  it  is  not  so  much  what  is 
said  that  matters.  A  conversation  that  might 
be  entirely  conventional  between  compara- 
tive strangers  in  a  fog  may  become  the  most 
romantic  interchange  of  sentiment  imagin- 
able between  intimates  in  the  sunshine. 
There  are  tones,  there  are  glances,  there  are 
half -veiled  allusions,  there  are — in  a  dog- 
cart, especially  when  it  jolts — thrilling  con- 
tacts of  arm  and  arm.  There  is  man's  undis- 


78  VIVIETTE 

guised  tribute  to  beauty;  there  is  beauty's 
keen  feminine  appreciation  of  the  tribute. 
There  is  a  manner  of  saying  "we"  which 
counts  for  more  than  the  casual  conjunction 
of  the  personalities. 

"This  is  our  day,  Viviette,"  said  Austin. 
"I  shall  always  remember  it." 

"So  shall  I.  We  must  put  a  white  mark 
against  it  in  our  diaries." 

"With  white  ink?" 

"Of  course.  Black  would  never  do,  nor 
red,  nor  violet." 

"But  where  shall  we  get  it?" 

"I'll  make  us  some  when  I  get  home  out 
of  white  cloud  and  lilies  and  sunshine  and  a 
bit  of  the  blue  sky." 

Laughter  fluttered  through  her  veins. 
Yesterday  she  had  teasingly  boasted  to 
Katherine  that  Austin  was  in  love  with 
her.  Now  she  knew  it.  He  proclaimed 
it  in  a  thousand  ways.  A  note  of  exultation 
in  his  laugh,  like  that  in  a  blackbird's  call, 


KATHERINE  79 

alone  proclaimed  it.  Instinct  told  her  of 
harmless  words  she  might  use  which  would 
bring  the  plain  avowal.  But  the  hour  was 
too  delicate.  As  yet  nothing  was  demanded. 
All  was  given.  Her  woman's  vanity  blos- 
somed deliciously  in  the  atmosphere  of  a 
man's  love.  Her  heart  had  not  yet  received 
the  inevitable  summons  to  respond.  She  left 
it,  careless  in  the  gay  hands  of  summer. 

When  they  drew  up  before  the  front  door 
of  Ware  House  he  lifted  her  from  the  dog- 
cart and  set  her  laughing  on  her  feet. 

"How  strong  you  are,"  she  cried. 

"I'm  not  a  giant,  like  Dick,"  said  he,  "but 
I'm  strong  enough  to  do  what  I  like  with  a 
bit  of  a  thing  like  you." 

She  entered  the  hall  and  glanced  at  him 
provokingly  over  her  shoulder. 

"Don't  be  too  sure  of  that." 

"Whatever  I  like,"  he  repeated,  striding 
towards  her. 

But  Viviette  laughed,  and  fled  lightly  up 


80  VIVIETTE 

the  stairs,  and  on  the  landing  blew  him  an 
ironical  kiss  from  her  finger  tips. 

When  Viviette  came  down  for  lunch,  she 
found  Dick  awaiting  her  in  the  hall.  With 
a  lowering  face  he  watched  her  descend  and, 
his  hand  on  the  newel,  confronted  her. 

"Well?"  said  he  indignantly. 

"Well?"  she  said,  cheerfully  smiling. 

"What  have  you  got  to  say  for  yourself?" 

"Lots  of  things.  I  had  a  lovely  drive.  I 
got  through  all  my  business,  and  I  have  a 
beautiful  appetite.  I  also  don't  like  stand- 
ing on  a  stair." 

At  her  look  he  drew  aside  and  let  her  pass 
into  the  hall. 

"You  promised  to  drive  with  me,"  he  said, 
following  her  to  a  chair  in  which  she  sat. 
"Driving  with  me  is  no  great  catch,  perhaps ; 
but  a  promise  is  a  promise." 

"You  were  late,"  said  Viviette. 

"My  mother  kept  me — some  silly  nonsense 


KATHERINE  81 

about  vegetables.  You  must  have  known  it 
was  something  I  couldn't  help." 

"I  really  don't  see  why  you're  so  angry, 
Dick,"  she  said,  lifting  candid  eyes.  "I  ex- 
plained why  we  had  gone  in  my  note." 

"I  didn't  read  the  note,"  said  Dick  wrath- 
fully.  "A  thousand  notes  couldn't  have  ex- 
plained it.  I  tore  the  note  into  little  pieces." 

Viviette  rose.  "If  that's  the  way  you  treat 
me,"  she  said,  piqued,  "I  have  nothing  more 
to  say  to  you." 

"It's  the  way  you're  treating  me,"  he 
cried,  with  a  clumsy  man's  awkward  attempt 
at  gesture.  "I  know  I'm  not  clever.  I  know 
I  can't  talk  to  you  as  sweetly  as  other  peo- 
ple; but  I'm  not  a  dog,  and  I  deserve  some 
consideration.  Perhaps,  after  all,  I  might 
have  the  brains  to  jest  and  toss  about  words 
and  shoot  off  epigrams.  I'll  try,  if  you  like. 
Let  us  see.  Here.  A  man  who  entrusts  his 
heart  to  a  woman  has  a  jade  for  his  banker. 
That's  devilish  smart,  isn't  it.  Now  then — 


82  VIVIETTE 

there  must  be  some  repartee  to  it.  What  is 
it?" 

Viviette  looked  at  him  proudly,  and  mov- 
ing in  the  direction  of  the  morning-room 
door,  said  with  much  dignity: 

"That  depends  on  the  way  in  which  the 
woman  you  are  talking  to  has  been  brought 
up.  My  repartee  is — good  morning." 

Dick,  suddenly  repentant,  checked  her. 

"No,  Viviette.  Don't  go.  I'm  a  brute 
and  a  fool.  I  didn't  mean  it.  Forgive  me. 
I  would  rather  go  on  the  rack  than  hurt  your 
little  finger.  But  it  maddens  me — can't  you 
believe  it?  It  maddens  me  to  see  Aus- 
tin  " 

She  broke  into  a  little  laugh  and  smiled 
dazzlingly  on  him. 

"I  do  believe  you're  jealous!"  she  inter- 
rupted. 

"Good  heavens!"  he  cried  passionately. 
"Haven't  I  cause?  Austin  has  everything 
his  heart  can  desire.  He  has  always  had  it. 


KATHERINE  83 

I  have  nothing — nothing  but  one  little  girl 
I  love.  Austin,  with  all  the  world  at  his  feet, 
comes  down  here,  and  what  chance  has  a 
rough  yokel  like  me  against  Austin?  My 
God!  It's  the  one  ewe  lamb." 

He  raised  his  clenched  fists  and  brought 
them  down  against  his  sides  and  turned 
away.  The  allusion  and  a  consciousness  of 
Vancouver  brought  a  smile  into  Viviette's 
eyes.  She  had  a  woman's  sense  of  humour, 
which  is  not  always  urbane.  When  he  turned 
to  meet  her  she  shook  her  head  reprovingly. 

"And  David  put  Uriah  into  the  forefront 
of  the  battle,  and  carried  off  poor  little  Bath- 
sheba.  No  one  seemed  to  have  concerned 
himself  with  what  Bathsheba  thought  of  it 
all.  Don't  you  consider  she  ought  to  have 
some  choice  in  the  matter — whether  she 
should  follow  the  sprightly  David  or  cling 
to  the  melancholy  Uriah?" 

"Oh,  don't  jest  like  that,  Viviette,"  he 
cried.  "It  hurts!" 


84  VIVIETTE 

"I'm  sorry,  Dick,"  she  said  innocently. 
"But,  really,  Bathsheba  has  her  feelings. 
What  am  I  to  do?" 

"Choose,  dear,  between  us.  Choose  now — 
in  Heaven's  name,  choose." 

"But,  Dick,  dear,"  said  Viviette,  all  that 
was  wickedly  feminine  in  her  shouting  her 
sex's  triumph  song,  "I  want  a  longer  time 
to  choose  between  two  hats!" 

Dick  stamped  his  foot.  "Then  Austin  has 
been  robbing  me!  I'm  growing  desperate, 
Viviette,  tell  me  now.  Choose." 

He  seized  her  arms  in  his  strong  hands. 
She  felt  a  delicious  little  thrill  of  fear.  But 
knowing  her  strength,  she  looked  up  at  him 
with  a  childish  expression  and  said  plain- 
tively: "Oh,  Dick,  dear,  I'm  so  hungry." 

He  released  her  arms.  She  rubbed  them 
ruefully.  "I'm  sure  you've  made  horrid  red 
rings.  Fancy  choosing  a  hard,  uncomfort- 
able hat  like  that !" 

He  was  about  to  make  some  rejoinder 


KATHERINE  85 

when  the  presence  of  Mrs.  Ware  and  Kath- 
erine  Holroyd  at  the  top  of  the  stairs  put  an 
end  to  the  encounter.  The  victory,  such  as 
it  was,  remained  with  Viviette. 

At  lunch,  Austin,  his  veins  still  tingling 
with  the  summer,  laughed  and  jested  light- 
heartedly.  What  a  joy  it  was  to  .get  away 
from  stuffy  courts  of  justice  into  the  pure 
Warwickshire  air.  What  a  joy  to  drink  of 
the  wine  of  life.  What  was  that?  Only 
those  that  drank  of  the  wine  could  tell. 

"What  about  the  poor  devils  that  only  get 
the  dregs?"  muttered  Dick. 

Austin  declared  that  the  real  wine  had  no 
dregs.  He  called  his  mother  and  Katherine 
Holroyd  to  witness.  Mrs.  Ware  was  not 
sure.  Old  port  had  to  be  very  carefully  de- 
canted. Did  he  remember  the  fuss  his  dear 
father  used  to  make  about  it?  She  was  very 
glad  there  was  no  more  left — for  Dick  would 
be  sure  to  drink  it  and  it  would  go  to  his 
head. 


86  VIVIETTE 

"Or  his  toes  1"  cried  Viviette. 

When  Austin  explained  Viviette's  mean- 
ing to  his  mother,  who  had  not  an  allusive 
habit  of  mind,  she  acquiesced  placidly.  Port 
was  not  good  for  gouty  people.  Their  poor 
father  suffered  severely.  Austin  listened  to 
her  reminiscences  and  turned  the  talk  to 
the  drive.  It  had  been  more  like  driving 
through  Paradise  with  Pegasus  harnessed  to 
Venus's  car  than  anything  else.  He  must 
take  his  mother  out  and  show  her  what  a 
good  judge  of  horseflesh  was  dear  old  Dick. 

"As  she's  my  mare,  perhaps  I  might  have 
the  privilege,"  said  Dick. 

Austin  cried  out,  in  all  good  faith :  "My 
dear  old  boy,  is  there  anything  especially 
mine  or  yours  in  this  house?" 

Katherine,  a  keen  observer,  broke  quickly 
into  the  talk. 

"There's  Dick's  armoury.  That's  his  own 
particular  and  private  domain.  You're  go- 


KATHERINE  87 

ing  to  explain  it  all  to  me  this  afternoon, 
aren't  you?    You  promised  yesterday." 

She  drew  Dick  into  talk  away  from  the 
others.  The  lecture  on  the  armoury  was 
fixed  for  three  o'clock,  when  she  would  be 
free  from  the  duty  from  which,  during  her 
stay  at  the  Manor  House,  she  had  freed 
Viviette,  of  postprandial  reading  of  the 
newspaper  to  Mrs.  Ware.  But  her  interest 
in  his  hobby  for  once  failed  to  awaken  his 
enthusiasm.  The  dull  jealousy  of  Austin, 
against  which  his  honest  soul  had  struggled 
successfully  all  his  life  long,  had  passed  be- 
yond his  control.  These  few  days  of  Aus- 
tin's Whitsun  visit  had  changed  his  Cosmic 
view.  Petty  rebuff  s,  such  as  the  matters  of 
the  stables  and  the  Rural  District  Council, 
which  formerly  he  would  have  regarded  in 
the  twilight  of  his  mind  as  part  of  the  un- 
changeable order  of  things  in  which  Austin 
was  destined  to  shine  resplendently  and  he  to 
glimmer — Austin  the  arc-lamp  and  he  the 


88  VIVIETTE 

tallow-dip — became  magnified  into  griev- 
ances and  insults  intolerable.  Esau  could 
not  have  raged  more  against  Jacob,  the  sup- 
planter,  than  did  Dick,  when  Austin  carried 
off  Viviette  from  beneath  his  nose.  Until 
this  visit  of  Austin  he  had  no  idea  that  he 
would  find  a  rival  in  his  brother.  The  dis- 
covery was  a  shock,  causing  his  world  to  reel 
and  setting  free  all  the  pent-up  jealousies 
and  grievances  of  a  lifetime.  Everything  he 
had  given  up  to  Austin,  if  not  willingly,  at 
least  graciously,  hiding  beneath  the  rough, 
tanned  hide  of  his  homely  face  all  pain,  dis- 
appointment, and  humiliation.  But  now 
Austin  had  come  and  swooped  off  with  his 
one  ewe  lamb.  Not  that  Viviette  had  en- 
couraged him  by  more  than  the  real  but 
mocking  affection  with  which  she  had  treated 
her  bear  foster-brother  ever  since  her  elfin 
childhood.  In  a  dim  way  he  realised  this, 
and  absolved  her  from  blame.  Less  dimly, 
also,  he  felt  his  mental  and  social  inferiority, 


KATHERINE  89 

his  lack  of  warrant  in  offering  her  marriage. 
But  his  great,  rugged  manhood  wanted  her, 
the  woman,  with  an  imperious,  savage  need 
which  took  all  the  training  of  civilisation  to 
repress.  Viviette  alone  in  her  maidenly 
splendour,  he  could  have  fought  it  down. 
But  the  vision  of  another  man  entering, 
light-hearted  and  debonair,  into  those  pre- 
cincts maddened  him,  let  loose  primitive  in- 
stincts of  hatred  and  revenge,  and  robbed 
him  of  all  interest  in  the  toys  with  which  men 
used  to  slay  each  other  centuries  ago. 

Austin,  being  nearest  the  door,  opened  it 
for  the  ladies  to  pass  out.  Viviette,  going 
out  last,  looked  up  at  him  with  one  of  her 
witch's  glances. 

"Don't  be  very  long,"  she  said. 

Before  Austin  could  resume  his  seat  Dick 
leaped  up. 

"Austin,  look  here;  I've  something  to  say 
to  you." 

"Well?"  said  Austin, 


90  VIVIETTE 

Dick  pulled  out  a  cigar,  bit  the  end  off, 
and  finding  that  he  had  ripped  the  outer 
skin,  threw  it  angrily  into  the  fireplace. 

"My  dear  old  boy,"  said  Austin,  "what  in 
the  name  of  all  that's  neurotic  is  the  mat- 
ter?" 

"IVe  something  to  say  to  you,"  Dick  re- 
peated. "Something  that  concerns  myself, 
my  life.  I  must  throw  myself  on  your  gen- 
erosity." 

Austin,  his  head  full  of  philanthropy, 
thrust  his  hands  into  his  pockets  and  smiled 
indulgently  on  Dick. 

"Don't,  old  chap,  I  know  all  about  it. 
Viviette  has  told  me  everything." 

Dick,  his  head  full  of  passion,  staggered 
in  amazement. 

"Viviette  has  told  you?" 

"Of  course;  why  shouldn't  she?" 

Dick  groped  his  way  to  the  door.  It  were 
better  for  both  that  he  should  not  stay.  Aus- 
tin, left  alone,  laughed,  not  unkindly.  Dear 


KATHERINE  91 

old  Dick!  It  was  a  shame  to  tease  him — 
but  what  a  different  expression  his  honest 
face  would  wear  to-morrow!  When  the 
maid  brought  in  his  coffee  he  sipped  it  with 
enjoyment,  forgetful  for  once  of  its  lack  of 
excellence. 

There  was  one  person,  however,  in  the 
house  who  saw  things  clearly ;  and  the  more 
clearly  she  saw  them  the  less  did  they  seem 
satisfactorily  ordered.  This  was  Katherine 
Holroyd,  a  sympathetic  observer  and  every- 
body's intimate.  She  had  known  the  family 
since  her  childhood,  spent  in  a  great  neigh- 
bouring house  which  had  now  long  since 
passed  from  her  kin  into  alien  hands.  She 
had  known  Viviette  when  she  first  came,  with 
her  changeling  face,  a  toddling  child  of 
three,  to  the  Manor  House.  She  had  grown 
up  with  the  brothers.  Until  her  marriage 
the  place  had  been  her  second  home.  Her 
married  life,  mostly  spent  abroad,  had  some- 
what broken  the  intimacy.  But  her  widow- 


92  VIVIETTE 

hood  after  the  first  few  hopeless  months  had 
renewed  it,  although  her  visits  were  compar- 
atively rare.  On  the  other  hand,  her  little 
daintily-furnished  London  house  in  Victoria 
square  was  always  open  to  such  of  the  fam- 
ily as  happened  to  be  in  town.  Now,  as  Aus- 
tin was  the  most  frequently  in  town,  seeing 
that  he  lived  there  all  the  year  round,  with 
the  exception  of  the  long  vacation  and  odd 
flying  visits  to  Warwickshire,  to  Austin  was 
her  door  most  frequently  open.  A  deep 
affection  existed  between  them,  deeper  per- 
haps than  either  realised.  To  be  purely 
brotherly  in  attitude  towards  a  woman  whom 
you  are  fond  of  and  who  is  not  your  sister, 
and  to  be  purely  sisterly  in  your  attitude 
towards  a  man  whom  you  are  fond  of  and 
who  is  not  your  brother,  are  ideals  of  spirit- 
ual emotion  very  difficult  to  attain  in  this 
respectably  organised  but  sex-ridden  world. 
During  the  dark  time  of  her  early  widow- 
hood it  was  to  Austin's  delicate  tact  and  loy- 


KATHERINE  93 

alty  that  she  owed  her  first  weak  grasp  on 
life.  It  was  he  that  had  brought  her  to  a 
sense  of  outer  things,  to  a  realisation  that 
in  spite  of  her  own  grey  sky  there  was  still 
a  glory  on  the  earth.  He  was  her  trusted 
friend,  ally,  and  adviser,  who  never  failed 
her,  and  she  contemplated  him  always  with 
a  heart  full  of  somewhat  exaggerated  grati- 
tude— which  is  as  far  on  the  road  to  lovje  as 
it  is  given  to  many  women  to  travel. 

She  had  barely  reached  the  top  of  the  hall 
stairs — on  her  way  to  spend  her  reading  hour 
with  Mrs.  Ware,  when  she  saw  Dick  come 
out  of  the  dining-room  with  convulsed  and 
angry  face,  the  veins  standing  out  on  his 
thick  bull's  neck.  She  felt  frightened. 
Something  foolish  and  desperate  would  hap- 
pen before  long.  She  resolved  to  give  Aus- 
tin a  warning  word.  With  an  excuse  to 
Mrs.  Ware  she  went  down  again  to  the  din- 
ing-room, and  found  Austin  in  the  cosiest 
and  sunniest  frame  of  mind  imaginable.  Ob- 


94  VIVIETTE 

viously  there  had  been  no  serious  quarrel 
between  the  brothers. 

"Can  I  have  a  few  minutes  with  you,  Aus- 
tin?" 

"A  thousand,"  he  said  gaily.  "What  has 
gone  wrong?" 

"It  is  nothing  to  do  with  me,"  she  said. 

He  looked  amusedly  into  her  eyes.  "I 
know.  It's  about  Viviette.  Confess." 

"Yes,"  she  replied  soberly,  "it's  about 
Viviette." 

"You've  seen  it.  I  make  no  bones  about 
it.  You  can  believe  the  very  worst.  I  have 
fallen  utterly  and  hopelessly  in  love  with  her. 
I  am  at  your  mercy." 

This  beginning  was  not  quite  what  Kath- 
erine  had  expected.  In  his  confident  way  he 
had  taken  matters  out  of  her  hands.  She 
had  not  anticipated  a  down-right  confession. 
She  felt  conscious  of  a  little  dull  and  wholly 
reprehensible  ache  at  her  heart.  She  sighed. 


KATHERINE  95 

"Aren't  you  pleased,  Katherine?"  he 
asked  with  a  man's  selfishness. 

"I  suppose  I  must  be — for  your  sake.  But 
I  must  also  sigh  a  little.  I  knew  you  would 
be  falling  in  love  sooner  or  later — only  I 
hoped  it  would  be  later.  But  que  veux-tu? 
It  is  the  doom  of  all  such  friendships." 

"I  don't  see  anything  like  a  doom  about 
it,  my  dear,"  said  he.  "The  friendship  will 
continue.  Viviette  loves  you  dearly." 

She  took  up  a  peach  from  a  dish  to  her 
hand,  regarded  it  for  a  moment,  absent- 
mindedly,  and  delicately  replaced  it. 

"Our  friendship  will  continue,  of  course. 
But  the  particular  essence  of  it,  the  little 
sentimentality  of  ownership,  will  be  gone, 
won't  it?" 

Austin  rose  and  bent  over  Katherine's 
'chair  in  some  concern.  "You're  not  dis- 
tressed, Katherine?" 

"Oh,  no.  You  have  been  such  a  kind, 
loyal  friend  to  me  during  a  very  dark  and 


96  VIVIETTE 

lonely  time — brought  sunshine  into  my  life 
when  I  needed  it  most — that  I  should  be  a 
wicked  woman  if  I  didn't  rejoice  at  your 
happiness.  And  we  have  been  nothing  more 
than  friends." 

"Nothing  more,"  said  Austin. 

She  was  smiling  now,  and  he  caught  a 
gleam  of  mischief  in  her  eyes. 

"And  yet  there  was  an  afternoon  last 
winter " 

His  face  coloured.  "Don't  throw  my 
wickedness  in  my  face.  I  remember  that 
afternoon.  I  came  in  fagged,  with  the  pros- 
pect of  dinner  at  the  club  and  a  dismal  eve- 
ning over  a  brief  in  front  of  me,  and  found 
you  sitting  before  the  fire,  the  picture  of  rest 
and  comfortableness  and  companionship.  I 
think  it  was  the  homely  smell  of  hot  buttered 
toast  that  did  it.  I  nearly  asked  you  to 
marry  me." 

"And  I  had  been  feeling  particularly 
lonely,"  she  laughed. 


KATHERINE  97 

"Would  you  have  accepted  me?" 

"Do  you  think  that  it  is  quite  a  fair  ques- 
tion?" 

"We  have  always  been  frank  with  one 
another  since  our  childhood,"  said  he. 

She  smiled.  "Has  Viviette  accepted 
you?" 

He  broke  away  from  her  with  a  gay  laugh, 
and  lit  a  cigarette. 

"Your  feminine  subtlety  does  you  credit, 
Katherine." 

"But  has  she?" 

"Well,  no — not  exactly." 

"Will  she?" 

He  brought  his  hand  down  on  the  table. 
"By  heavens,  I'll  make  her!  I've  got  most 
of  the  things  I've  wanted  during  my  life,  and 
it'll  be  odd  if  I  don't  get  the  thing  I  want 
more  than  all  the  rest  put  together.  Now 
answer  my  question,  my  dear  Katherine," 
he  continued  teasingly.  "Would  you  have 
married  me?" 


98  VIVIETTE 

The  smile  faded  from  Katherine's  face. 
She  could  not  parry  the  question  as  she  had 
done  before,  and  it  probed  depths.  She 
said  very  seriously  and  sweetly: 

"I  should  have  done,  Austin,  as  I  always 
shall  do,  whatever  you  ask  me  to  do.  I'm 
glad  you  didn't  ask  me — very  glad — for  the 
love  a  woman  gives  a  man  died  within  me, 
you  know." 

He  took  her  hand  and  kissed  it. 

"My  dear,"  said  he,  "you  are  the  truest 
friend  that  ever  man  had." 

There  was  a  short  pause.  Austin  looked 
out  of  the  window  and  Katherine  wiped 
away  some  moisture  in  her  eyes.  This  scene 
of  sentimentality  was  not  at  all  what  she 
had  come  for.  Soon  she  rose  with  a  deter- 
mined air  and  joined  Austin  by  the  window. 

"It  was  as  a  true  friend  that  I  wanted 
to  speak  to  you  to-day.  To  warn  you." 

"About  what?" 


KATHERINE  99 

"About  Dick.  Austin,  he's  madly  in  love 
with  Viviette  too." 

Austin  stared  at  her  for  a  moment  in- 
credulously. "Dick  in  love — in  love  with 
Viviette?"  Then  he  broke  into  a  peal  of 
laughter.  "My  dear  Katherine!  Why,  it's 
absurd !  It's  preposterous !  It's  too  funny." 

"But  seriously,  Austin." 

"But  seriously,"  he  said,  with  laughing 
eyes,  "such  an  idea  has  never  penetrated  into 
old  Dick's  wooden  skull.  You  dear  women 
are  always  making  up  romance.  He  and 
Viviette  are  on  the  same  old  fairy  and  great 
brown  bear  terms  that  they  have  been  ever 
since  they  first  met.  She  makes  him  dance 
on  his  hind  legs — he  wants  to  hug  her — she 
hits  him  over  the  nose — and  he  growls." 

"I  warn  you,"  said  Katherine.  "Great 
brown  bears  in  love  are  dangerous." 

"But  he  isn't  in  love,"  he  argued  light- 
heartedly.  "If  he  were  he  would  want  to 
stay  with  Viviette.  But  he's  eating  his  heart 


100  VIVIETTE 

out,  apparently,  to  leave  us  all  and  go  and 
plough  fields  and  herd  cattle  abroad.  The 
life  he  lives  here,  my  good  mother's  some- 
what arbitrary  ways,  and  one  thing  and  an- 
other have  at  last  got  on  his  nerves.  I  won- 
der now  how  the  dear  old  chap  has  stood 
it  so  long.  That's  what  is  wrong  with  him, 
not  blighted  affection." 

"I  can  only  tell  you  what  I  know,"  said 
Katherine.  "If  you  won't  believe  me,  it's  not 
my  fault.  Keep  your  eyes  open  and  you 
will  see." 

"And  you  keep  your  eyes  open  to-morrow 
morning  and  you  will  see,"  he  said,  with  his 
bright  self-confidence. 

So  Katherine  sighed  at  the  obtuseness  and 
inconvincibility  of  man  and  went  to  read  the 
leader  in  The  Daily  Telegraph  to  Mrs. 
Ware.  Austin,  with  a  smile  on  his  lips, 
wandered  out  into  the  sunshine  in  search  of 
Viviette. 


KATHERINE  101 

Before  they  parted,  however,  Katherine 
turned  by  the  door. 

"Are  you  coming  to  the  armoury  to  hear 
Dick's  lecture?" 

"Of  course,"  said  Austin  gaily.  "The 
dear  old  chap  loves  an  audience." 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE    FAMOUS    DUELLING    PISTOLS 

DICK'S  great-grandfather  (Wild  Dick 
Ware,  as  he  used  to  be  called  by  the 
country-side),  besides  other  enormities  of 
indiscretion,  committed  an  architectural 
crime.  Having  begun  to  form  the  collection 
of  arms  which  was  Dick's  pride  and  hobby, 
he  felt  the  need  of  a  fencing  gallery  where 
they  could  be  displayed  to  advantage.  None 
of  the  rooms  in  the  house  were  suitable. 
Building  a  new  wing  would  cost  too  much. 
So,  like  a  good  old  English  gentleman,  ac- 
customed to  get  what  he  wanted,  he  ruth- 
lessly cut  off  a  slice  of  the  nobly  proportioned 
morning-room,  containing  a  beautifully- 
mullioned  casement  at  the  side,  knocked  a 

French  window  through  one  end,  so  that  he 
102 


THE  FAMOUS  PISTOLS      103 

could  wander  in  and  out  from  the  terrace, 
knocked  a  door  through  the  other  so  that  it 
opened  on  a  corner  of  the  hall,  forgot  all 
about  the  fireplace,  and  left  his  descendants 
to  make  the  best  of  things. 

This  long,  narrow,  comfortless  strip  of  a 
room  was  Dick's  armoury,  den,  and  refuge. 
It  was  furnished  with  extreme  simplicity. 
At  the  further  end  two  rusty  leather  arm- 
chairs flanked  a  cast-iron  stove  in  the  corner, 
and  were  balanced  in  the  other  and  darker 
corner  by  a  knee-hole  writing-desk  littered 
with  seeds  and  bulbs  and  spurs  and  bits  of 
fishing  tackle,  and  equipped  for  its  real  pur- 
pose with  a  forbidding-looking  pen  and  ink- 
pot, and  a  torn  piece  of  weather-beaten  blot- 
ting-paper. At  about  a  third  of  the  way 
down  from  the  terrace  door  a  great  screen, 
covered  with  American  cloth,  cut  the  room 
almost  in  two.  Against  this  screen  stood  two 
suits  of  beautifully-finished  fifteenth-cen- 
tury Italian  armour.  Between  them  and  the 


104  VIVIETTE 

further  end  of  the  room  ran  a  long  deal 
table,  with  a  green  baize  cover.  An  odd, 
dilapidated  chair  or  two  stood  lonely  and 
disconsolate  against  the  opposite  wall.  The 
floor  was  covered  with  old  matting  and  a 
few  faded  rugs.  The  walls,  however,  and 
the  cases  ranged  along  them  gave  an  air 
of  distinction  to  the  room.  There  hung 
trophies  of  arms  of  all  sorts — a  bewildering 
array  of  spiky  stars  like  the  monstrous  dec- 
orations on  the  breast  of  a  Brobdingnagian 
diplomatist,  of  guns  and  pistols  of  all  ages 
and  nationalities,  of  halberds,  pikes,  and  par- 
tisans, of  curved  scimitars,  great  two- 
handed  swords,  and  long,  glittering  rapiers, 
with  precious  hilts.  There,  too,  were  coats 
of  chain  mail  and  great  iron  gauntlets,  and 
rows  of  dinted  helmets  formed  a  cornice 
round  the  gallery. 

It  was  Dick's  sanctuary,  where,  accord- 
ing to  family  tradition,  he  was  supposed  to 
be  immune  from  domestic  attacks.  Anyone, 


it  is  true,  could  open  the  door  and  worry  him 
from  the  threshold,  but  no  one  entered  with- 
out his  invitation.  Here  he  was  master. 
Here  he  spent  solitary  hours  dreaming 
dreams,  wrestling  with  devils,  tying  trout- 
flies,  making  up  medicines  for  his  dogs,  and 
polishing  and  arranging  and  rearranging 
his  armour  and  weapons.  Until  the  furies 
got  hold  of  him  he  was  a  simple  soul,  con- 
tent with  simple  things.  The  happiest  times 
of  his  life  had  been  passed  here  among  the 
inanimate  objects  which  he  loved,  and  here 
he  was  now  spending  the  hours  of  his  great- 
est agony. 

The  words  he  had  just  heard  from  Austin 
rang  like  a  crazy,  deafening  chime  through 
his  ears.  He  sat  in  one  of  the  old  leather 
chairs,  gripping  his  coarse  hair.  It  was  un- 
thinkable, and  yet  it  was  true.  Viviette  had 
told  Austin  the  thing  that  glowed  sacred  at 
the  bottom  of  his  soul.  The  scene  danced 
vividly  before  his  eyes:  the  two  bright  crea- 


106  VIVIETTE 

tures  making  a  mock  of  him  and  his  love, 
laughing  merrily  at  the  trick  they  had 
played  him,  pitying  him  contemptuously. 
There  was  a  flame  at  his  heart,  a  burning 
lump  in  his  throat.  Mechanically  he  drew 
from  a  little  cupboard  near  by  a  bottle  of 
whiskey,  a  syphon,  and  a  glass.  The  drink 
he  mixed  and  swallowed  contained  little 
soda.  It  increased  the  fire  in  his  heart  and 
throat.  He  paced  the  long  room  in  crazy 
indignation.  Every  nerve  in  his  body  quiv- 
ered with  a  sense  of  unforgivable  insult  and 
deadly  outrage.  Austin's  face  loomed  be- 
fore him  like  that  of  a  mocking  devil.  He 
had  hell  in  his  throat,  and  again  he  tossed 
down  a  dose  of  whiskey,  and  threw  himself 
into  the  arm-chair.  The  daily  paper  lay  on 
a  stool  at  his  hand.  He  took  it  up  and  tried 
to  read,  but  the  print  swam  into  thin,  black 
smudges.  He  dashed  the  paper  to  the 
ground,  and  gave  himself  up  to  his  mad- 
ness. 


THE  FAMOUS  PISTOLS      107 

After  a  while  he  remembered  his  appoint- 
ment with  Katherine  at  three  o'clock.  He 
glanced  at  his  watch.  It  was  a  quarter  to 
the  hour,  and,  beyond  a  cleaning  yesterday 
afternoon,  no  preparations  were  made.  In 
an  automatic  way  he  unlocked  some  cases 
and  drew  out  his  treasures,  wiped  the  sword- 
blades  tenderly  with  chamois  leather,  and 
laid  them  on  the  long,  baize-covered  table. 
Here  and  there  from  the  cornice  he  selected 
a  helmet.  The  great  mace  used  by  his  ecclesi- 
astical ancestor  he  unhooked  from  the  wall. 
Soon  the  table  was  covered  with  weapons, 
selected  in  a  dazed  way,  he  knew  not  why. 
A  helmet  fell  from  his  hands  on  the  floor 
with  a  ring  of  steel.  Its  visor  grinned  at 
him — the  fool,  the  tricked,  the  supplanted. 
He  kicked  it,  with  a  silly  laugh.  Then  he 
pulled  himself  together,  picked  it  up,  and 
examined  it  in  great  fear  lest  harm  should 
have  happened  to  it.  He  put  it  on  the  table, 


108  VIVIETTE 

and  in  order  to  steady  his  nerves  drank  an- 
other large  whiskey  and  small  soda. 

He  scanned  the  table,  perplexed.  Some 
accustomed  and  important  exhibit  was  not 
in  its  place.  What  was  it?  He  clasped  his 
head  in  his  hands  and  strove  to  clear  his 
mind  for  a  moment  from  obsession.  It  was 
something  historical,  something  unique, 
something  he  had  but  lately  mentioned  to 
Katherine.  Something  intimately  connected 
with  this  very  room.  At  last  memory  re- 
sponded. He  placed  a  chair  between  the 
two  suits  of  armour  that  stood  against  the 
screen  and  the  end  of  the  long  table,  and, 
mounting,  took  a  mahogany  case  from  a 
shelf.  Then  he  sat  on  the  chair,  put  the 
case  on  the  table,  and  opened  it  by  means  of 
a  small,  ornamental  key.  It  contained  a 
brace  of  old-fashioned  duelling  pistols,  such 
as  were  used  at  the  beginning  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  They  were  long-barrelled, 
ivory-handled,  business-like  weapons,  pro- 


THE  FAMOUS  PISTOLS     109 

vided  with  miniature  ramrods.  The  velvet- 
lined  interior  of  the  case  was  divided  into 
various  compartments,  two  for  the  pistols, 
one  for  powder-flask,  one  for  bullets,  one 
for  percussion-caps,  and  one  for  wads.  In 
his  dull,  automatic  way,  his  mind  whirling 
madly  in  other  spheres,  he  cleaned  the  pis- 
tols, shook  the  powder-flask  to  make  certain 
that  powder  was  still  there — he  loved  to 
pour  out  a  few  grains  into  his  hand  and 
show  the  powder  that  had  remained  in  the 
flask  for  generations,  ever  since  the  pistols 
were  last  used — counted  the  caps,  which  he 
had  counted  many  times  before,  looked  stu- 
pidly into  the  only  empty  compartment,  only 
to  remember  that  there  never  had  been  any 
wads,  and,  finally,  grasping  one  of  the  pis- 
tols, took  aim  at  a  bulb  on  his  writing-desk 
at  the  end  of  the  room. 

He  had  been  tricked,  and  robbed,  and 
mocked.  He  could  see  the  scene  when  she 
had  told  Austin.  He  could  hear  Austin's 


110  VIVIETTE 

pitiless  laughter.  He  could  picture  her 
mimicking  his  rough  speech.  He  could  pic- 
ture them,  faithless,  heartless,  looking  into 
each  other's  eyes.  .  .  .  Suddenly  he  passed 
his  hand  over  his  forehead.  Was  he  going 
mad?  Hitherto  he  had  heard  their  voices 
in  the  dimness  of  imagination.  Now  he  heard 
them  loud  in  vibrating  sound.  Was  it  real 
or  imaginary?  He  drew  deep,  panting 
breaths. 

"Dick's  not  here,"  said  Viviette's  voice 
from  the  terrace.  "He  has  forgotten." 

"Really,  my  dear,  I  don't  very  much 
care,"  Austin  replied.  "Where  you  are,  I 
am  happy." 

"I  wish  that  telegram  would  come.  It's 
quite  time.  Don't  you  think  we  had  better 
tell  Dick  to-day?" 

"No,  no.    To-morrow." 

"After  all,  what  is  the  good  of  hiding  it 
from  him?" 

A  laugh  from  Austin.     "You  think  we 


THE  FAMOUS  PISTOLS     111 

ought  to  put  him  out  of  his  misery  at  once?" 

It  was  real!  Those  two  were  talking  in 
flesh  and  blood  on  the  terrace.  They  were 
talking  of  him.  His  misery!  That  had  but 
one  meaning.  And  the  devil  laughed !  Un- 
consciously his  grip  tightened  on  the  butt 
of  the  pistol.  He  listened. 

"Yes,"  said  Viviette.  "It  would  be 
kinder." 

"I  stick  to  the  birthday  idea.  It  would 
be  more  dramatic." 

"The  damned  villain!"  Dick  muttered. 

"I  want  to-day,"  said  Viviette. 

"And  I  want  to-morrow." 

"You  speak  as  if  you  were  my  lord  and 
master,"  said  Viviette,  in  the  mocking  tones 
Dick  knew  so  well. 

"No  other  man  shall  be  if  I  can  help  it." 

The  clear,  young  masterful  voice  rang 
down  the  gallery.  Dick  slid  his  chair  noise- 
lessly to  the  side  of  the  screen  which  hid  him 
from  the  terrace-window,  and,  bending  down 


112  VIVIETTE 

low,  peered  round  the  edge.  He  saw  them 
laughing,  flushed,  silhouetted  against  the 
green,  distant  trees.  Austin  was  looking  at 
her  with  the  light  of  passion  in  his  eyes.  She 
looked  up  at  him,  radiant,  elusive,  trium- 
phant, with  parted  lips. 

"Please  to  remember  we  were  talking  of 
Dick." 

"Confound  Dick!  In  this  he  doesn't 
count.  I  matter.  And  I'll  show  you." 

He  showed  her  in  the  one  and  only  way. 
She  struggled  for  a  second  in  his  arms,  and 
received  his  kiss  with  a  little  laugh.  They 
had  moved  to  the  far  lintel  of  the  door. 
Dick's  world  reeled  red  before  his  eyes.  He 
stood  up  and  held  the  pistol  pointed.  Damn 
him!  Damn  him!  He  would  kill  him.  Kill 
him  like  a  dog. 

Some  reflex  motion  of  the  brain  prompted 
action.  Feverishly  he  rammed  a  charge  of 
powder  down  the  pistol.  Wads?  A  bit  of 
the  newspaper  lying  on  the  floor.  Then  a 


THE  FAMOUS  PISTOLS      113 

bullet.  Then  a  wad  rammed  home.  Then 
the  cap.  It  was  done  at  lightning  speed. 
Murder,  red,  horrible  murder  blazed  in  his 
soul.  Damn  him!  He  would  kill  him.  He 
started  into  the  middle  of  the  room,  just 
as  they  walked  away,  and  he  sprang  to  the 
door  and  levelled  the  pistol. 

Then  reaction  came.  No.  "Not  like  a 
dog.  He  couldn't  shoot  his  brother  like  a 
dog.  His  arm  fell  helplessly  at  his  side.  He 
turned  back  again  into  the  room,  staggering 
and  knocking  himself  against  the  cases  by 
the  walls,  like  a  drunken  man.  The  sweat 
rolled  down  his  face.  He  put  the  pistol  be- 
side the  other  on  the  table.  For  some  mo- 
ments he  stood  a  hulking  statue,  shaken  as 
though  stricken  with  earthquake,  white- 
faced,  white-lipped,  staring,  with  crossed, 
blue  eyes,  at  nothing.  At  last  he  recovered 
power  of  motion,  drank  another  whiskey, 
and  replaced  bottle,  syphon,  and  glass  in  the 
cupboard. 


114  VIVIETTE 

He  found  himself  suddenly  clear-headed, 
able  to  think.  He  was  not  in  the  least  degree 
drunk.  To  test  himself  he  took  up  a  sword 
from  the  table,  and,  getting  the  right  spot, 
balanced  it  on  his  finger.  He  could  speak, 
too,  as  well  as  anybody.  He  turned  to  a 
long  Moorish  musket  inlaid  with  gems  and 
mother-of-pearl,  and  began  to  describe  it. 
He  was  quite  fluent  and  sensible,  although 
his  voice  sounded  remote  in  his  own  ears. 
He  was  satisfied.  He  had  his  nerves  under 
control.  He  would  go  through  the  next 
hour  without  anyone  suspecting  the  madness 
that  was  in  his  mind.  He  was  absolutely 
sober  and  self-collected.  He  walked  along 
a  seam  of  the  matting  that  ran  the  whole 
length  of  the  gallery,  and  did  not  deviate 
from  it  one  hair's  breadth.  Now  he  was 
ready.  Perfectly  prepared  to  deliver  his 
lecture.  He  sat  down  and  picked  up  the 
newspaper,  and  the  print  was  clear.  "The 
weather  still  continues  to  be  fine  over  the 


THE  FAMOUS  PISTOLS     115 

British  Islands.  The  anti-cyclone  has  not 
yet  passed  away  from  the  Bay  of  Bis- 
cay. .  .  ."  He  read  the  jargon  through  to 
the  end.  But  it  seemed  as  if  it  were  not  he 
who  was  reading,  but  someone  else — a  quiet, 
placid. gentleman,  deeply  versed  in  the  harm- 
less science  of  meteorology.  Where  his  real 
self  was  he  did  not  know,  so  he  toyed  with  the 
illusion. 

A  voice  broke  on  his  ear,  coming,  it 
seemed,  from  another  world. 

"Dick,  may  we  come  in?" 

He  rose,  saw  Katherine,  Austin,  and 
Viviette  on  the  threshold.  He  invited  them 
to  enter,  and  shook  Katherine  by  the  hand, 
as  if  he  had  not  met  her  for  a  long  time. 

Viviette  danced  down  to  the  table.  "Now, 
Dick,  we're  all  here.  Put  on  your  most 
learned  and  antiquarian  manner.  Ladies 
and  gentlemen,  I  call  on  Mr.  Richard  Ware 
to  deliver  his  interesting  lecture  on  the  in- 


116  VIVIETTE 

genious  instruments  men  have  devised  for 
butchering  each  other." 

Dick  put  his  hand  to  his  head  in  a  con- 
fused way.  His  real  self  was  beginning  to 
merge  itself  into  that  of  the  quiet  gentle- 
man, and  there  was  a  curious  red  mist  be- 
fore his  eyes. 

"Come  on,"  cried  Viviette.  "Look  at 
Katherine.  Her  mouth  is  watering  for  tales 
of  bloodshed." 

Dick  could  not  remember  his  usual  start- 
ing-point. He  stared  stupidly  at  the  table 
for  a  moment;  then  picked  up  a  weapon  at 
random,  and  made  a  great  effort. 

"This  is  a  Toledo  sixteenth-century  sword 
— reported  to  have  belonged  to  Cosmo  de 
Medici.  You  see  here  the  fpalle*  the  Medici 
emblem.  The  one  next  to  it  is  a  sword  of 
the  same  period,  only  used  by  a  meaner  per- 
son. I  should  prefer  it,  if  there  were  any 
killing  to  be  done," 

He  described  one  or  two  other  weapons. 


THE  FAMOUS  PISTOLS     117 

Then,  glancing  over  his  shoulder  at  Austin 
and  Viviette,  who  were  talking  in  low,  con- 
fidential tones  a  little  way  off,  he  stood  stock 
still,  and  the  beads  of  sweat  gathered  on  his 
forehead.  Katherine's  voice  recalled  his 
wandering  wits. 

"This  is  a  cross-bow,  isn't  it?  The  thing 
the  Ancient  Mariner  shot  the  Albatross 
with." 

"A  cross-bow,"  said  Dick.  "The  iron  loop 
at  the  end  was  to  put  one's  foot  into  when 
one  wanted  to  load  it." 

"And  this,"  said  Katherine,  pointing  to 
a  long  steel  thing  with  a  great  knob  adorned 
with  cruel  spikes,  "is  the  family  mace,  I 
suppose.  I've  seen  it  before,  I  remember." 

"Yes,  that's  the  mace." 

"What  a  blood-thirsty  set  of  people  you 
must  have  been!" 

Austin  came  up  with  a  laugh.  "There's 
a  legend  among  us  that  once  mother  was  left 
alone  in  the  house  and  insisted  on  having  this 


118  VIVIETTE 

mace  near  her  bed  so  as  to  defend  herself 
against  burglars.  But  why  do  you  leave  me 
to  tell  the  story,  Dick?" 

Dick  clenched  his  fists,  and,  muttering 
something,  turned  and  ascended  the  gallery 
above  the  screen.  Viviette  followed  him. 

"You're  not  doing  it  at  all  nicely.  I  don't 
think  you  want  to." 

"Can  you  wonder  at  that?"  he  said 
hoarsely. 

Viviette  played  deliciously  with  the  fire. 

"Why,  aren't  we  intelligent  enough  for 
you?"  she  asked  with  childish  innocence. 

"You  know  what  I  mean." 

"I  haven't  the  faintest  idea.  All  I  know 
is  that  you  may  as  well  be  polite,  at  any 
rate." 

He  laughed.  Ordinarily  he  had  little 
sense  of  humour ;  but  now  he  had  the  flames 
in  his  heart  and  the  hell  in  his  throat,  and 
red  mist  before  his  eyes. 

"Oh,  I'll  be  polite,"  he  growled.     "By 


THE  FAMOUS  PISTOLS     119 

God,  I'll  be  polite!  One  may  be  suffering 
the  tortures  of  the  damned,  but  one  must 
smirk  and  be  polite!" 

He  snatched  up  the  first  thing  to  hand,  a 
helmet  that  stood  on  a  case,  and  brought  it 
down  below  the  screen. 

"Katherine,  Viviette  says  I'm  not  deliver- 
ing my  lecture  properly.  I  beg  your  pardon. 
I'm  rather  shy  at  first,  but  I  get  warmed  up 
to  my  subject.  What  would  you  like  to 
hear  about?" 

Katherine  exchanged  a  glance  with 
Austin. 

"Don't  you  think  we  might  put  off  the 
rest  till  another  day?" 

"Yes,  old  chap.  Put  it  off  till  to-morrow. 
It's  your  birthday,  you  know." 

"Birthday?  What's  that  got  to  do  with 
it?  Who  knows  what  may  happen  between 
then  and  now?  No — no.  I'm  all  right,"  he 
cried  wildly.  "You're  here,  and  you've  got 
to  listen.  I'll  get  into  fine  form  presently. 


120  VIVIETTE 

Look!"  he  said,  pointing  to  the  helmet  he 
was  holding.  "Here  is  a  Cromwellian  mo- 
rion. It  was  picked  up  by  an  ancestor  at 
Naseby.  It  has  a  clean  cut  in  it.  That's 
where  an  honest  gentleman's  sword  found  its 
way  into  the  knave's  skull — the  puritanical, 
priggish,  canting  knave." 

He  threw  the  helmet  with  a  clatter  on  to 
the  table  as  if  it  had  been  the  knave's  cant- 
ing head.  He  caught  up  a  weapon. 

"This  is  a  partisan.  All  you  had  to  do 
when  you  got  it  inside  a  man  was  to  turn 
it  round  a  bit,  and  the  wound  gaped  and  tore. 
This  tassel  is  for  catching  the  blood  and 
preventing  it  from  greasing  the  handle. 
Here's  a  beauty,"  he  went  on,  taking  a  sword 
from  the  row  he  had  laid  out  for  display, 
and  holding  it  out  for  Katherine's  inspec- 
tion. "One  of  the  pets  of  the  collection.  A 
French  duelling  sword  of  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century."  He  gave  a  fencer's 
flourish.  "Responsive  to  the  hilts,  eh?  Ah! 


THE  FAMOUS  PISTOLS     121 

It  must  have  been  good  to  live  in  those  days, 
when  you  could  whip  this  from  your  side  at 
a  wrong  done  and  have  the  life  of  the  man 
that  wronged  you.  The  sweet  morning  air, 
the  patch  of  green  turf,  shoes  off — in  shirt 
and  breeches — with  the  eyes  of  the  man  you 
hate  in  front  of  you,  and  this  glittering, 
beautiful,  snaky  thing  thirsting  for  his 

heart's  blood.  And  then " — he  stood  in 

tierce,  left  hand  curved,  holding  in  tense 
fierceness  the  eyes  of  an  imaginary  oppon- 
ent— "and  then  a  little  clitter-clatter  of  steel, 
and,  suddenly — ha! — the  blade  disappeiars 
up  to  the  hilt,  and  a  great  red  stain  comes  on 
the  shirt,  and  the  man  throws  up  his  arms, 
and  falls,  and  you've  killed  him.  He's  dead! 
dead!  dead!  Ha!  what  a  time  to  live  in!" 

Katherine  uttered  a  little  cry  of  fear,  and 
grew  pale.  Viviette  clapped  her  hands. 

"Bravo,  Dick!" 

"Bravo,  Dick!"  cried  Austin.  "Most 
dramatically  done." 


122  VIVIETTE 

"I  never  knew  you  were  such  an  actor," 
said  Viviette. 

Dick  stood  panting,  his  hand  on  the  hilt 
of  the  sword,  the  point  on  the  floor. 

"I  really  do  think  I've  had  enough,"  said 
Katherine. 

"No,  not  yet,"  he  said  in  a  thick  voice. 
"I've  not  shown  you  half  yet.  I've  some- 
thing much  more  interesting." 

"But,  Dick " 

Viviette  interrupted  her.  "You  must 
stay.  It's  only  beginning  to  be  exciting.  If 
you  only  do  the  rest  as  beautifully  as  you 
did  that,  Dick,  I'll  stay  here  all  day." 

Dick,  with  a  curious  outward  calm,  con- 
trasting with  the  fury  of  his  mock  encoun- 
ter, put  down  the  sword  and  went  to  the  end 
of  the  table,  where  the  case  of  pistols  lay. 

"At  any  rate,  I  must  show  you,"  said  he, 
"the  famous  duelling  pistols." 

"They  were  the  very  pistols  in  the  duel 


THE  FAMOUS  PISTOLS     123 

between  his  great-grandfather  and  Lord 
Estcombe,"  said  Viviette. 

"They've  not  been  used  from  that  day — he 
killed  Lord  Estcombe,  by  the  by — till  this. 
The  case  is  just  as  it  was  left.  I  was  going 
to  tell  you  the  story  yesterday." 

"I  remember,"  said  Katherine,  by  way  of 
civility.  "But  Mrs.  Ware  stopped  you." 

She  was  a  mild-natured  woman,  and  the 
realistic  conjuring  up  of  gore-dripping  tas- 
sels and  bloody  shirts  upset  her,  and  she  de- 
sired to  get  away.  She  also  saw  that  Dick 
was  abnormally  excited,  and  suspected  that 
he  had  been  drinking.  Her  delicate  senses 
shrank  from  drunkenness. 

"You  must  tell  the  story,"  cried  Viviette. 
"It's  so  romantic.  You  like  romantic  things, 
Katherine.  The  great-grandfather  was  a 
Dick  Ware  too — Wild  Dick  Ware  they  used 
to  call  him.  Go  on,  Dick." 

Dick  paused  for  a  moment.  He  had  a 
curious,  dull,  befogged  sensation  of  being 


124  VIVIETTE 

compelled  to  do  things  independently  of  vo- 
lition. Presently  he  spoke. 

"It  happened  in  this  very  room,  a  hundred 
years  ago.  Lord  Estcombe  and  my  great- 
grandfather were  friends — intimate  friends 
from  boyhood.  Wild  Dick  Ware  was  madly 
in  love  with  a  girl  who  had  more  or  less  be- 
come engaged  to  him.  Now,  it  came  to  his 
knowledge  that  Lord  Estcombe  had  been 
using  blackguard  means  to  win  away  the 
girl's  affections.  And  one  day  they  were 
here" — he  moved  a  pace  or  two  to  one  side — 
"just  as  Austin  and  I  are  now.  And  the 
girl  over  there " 

Viviette,  with  a  gay  laugh,  took  up  her 
position  on  the  spot  to  which  he  pointed. 

"Just  in  this  identical  place.  I  know  the 
story — it's  lovely!" 

"An  old  Peninsula  comrade  of  Wild  Dick 
Ware's  was  here  too — a  man  called  Hawk- 
ins  " 


THE  FAMOUS  PISTOLS      125 

"Katherine  shall  be  Hawkins,"  cried 
Viviette. 

"And  in  his  presence,"  Dick  continued, 
"Wild  Dick  Ware  told  the  girl  that  he  was 
mad  for  love  of  her,  but  that  he  would  not 
force  her  choice;  yet  one  of  those  two,  him- 
self or  Lord  Estcombe,  she  must  choose,  for 
good  and  all.  She  could  not  speak  for  shame 
or  confusion.  He  said,  'Throw  your  hand- 
kerchief to  whichever  of  us  you  love.'  And 
they  stood  side  by  side — like  this" — he 
ranged  himself  by  Austin's  side — "opposite 
the  girl." 

"And  she  threw  the  handkerchief!"  cried 
Viviette. 

"Throw  yours !"  said  Dick.  He  looked  at 
her  with  fierce  intensity  beneath  rugged 
brows ;  Austin  with  laughing  challenge.  She 
knew  that  she  was  the  object  of  each  man's 
desire,  and  her  sex's  triumph  thrilled  through 
her  from  head  to  foot.  She  knew  that  this 
jesting  choice  would  have  serious  import. 


126  VIVIETTE 

For  some  seconds  the  three  remained  stock 
still.  She  glanced  flutteringly  from  one  man 
to  the  other.  Which  should  she  choose?  Her 
heart  beat  wildly.  Choose  one  or  the  other 
she  must.  Outside  that  room  no  man  lived 
whom  she  would  marry.  Each  second 
strained  the  situation  further.  At  last  her 
spirit  rose  in  feminine  revolt  against  the  trap 
which  Dick  had  set  for  her,  and,  with  a  mali- 
cious look,  she  threw  the  handkerchief  at 
Austin's  feet.  He  picked  it  up  and  gallantly 
put  it  to  his  lips. 

"In  the  story,"  exclaimed  Viviette,  "she 
threw  it  to  Lord  Estcombe.  Austin  is  Lord 
Estcombe." 

"And  I'm  Dick  Ware,"  cried  Dick,  in  a 
strangled  voice.  "Wild  Dick  Ware.  And 
this  is  what  he  did.  He  dragged  the  girl  out 
of  the  room  first." 

He  took  Viviette  by  the  arm  and  roughly 
thrust  her  past  the  screen. 

"Then — that  case  was  on  the  table.    And 


THE  FAMOUS  PISTOLS     127 

without  a  word  Wild  Dick  Ware  comes  up 
to  Lord  Estcombe  so — and  says,  'Choose.' ' 

He  gripped  the  pistols  by  the  barrels, 
crossed  them,  and  presented  the  butts  to 
Austin.  Austin  waved  them  away  with  a 
deprecatory  gesture  and  a  smile. 

"Really,  old  man,  I  can't  enter  into  the 
spirit  of  it,  like  that.  You're  splendid.  But 
if  I  took  a  hand,  it  would  be  tomfoolery." 

"Oh,  do,  do,"  cried  Viviette.  "Let  us  go 
through  with  it  and  see  just  how  the  duel  was 
fought.  It  will  be  thrilling.  You'll  have  to 
fall  dead  like  Lord  Estcombe,  and  I'll  burst 
into  the  room  and  tear  my  hair  over  your 
poor  corpse.  Do,  Austin,  for  my  sake." 

He  yielded.  Any  foolishness  for  her  sake. 
He  took  a  pistol. 

"You'll  have  to  be  Major  Hawkins,  Kath- 
erine,"  he  said  lightly,  as  if  inviting  her  to 
condescend  to  some  child's  game. 

But  Katherine  put  her  hands  before  her 


128  VIVIETTE 

face  and  shrank  back.  "No,  no,  no.  I 
couldn't.  I  don't  like  it." 

"Then  I'll  be  Major  Hawkins,"  said 
Viviette. 

"You  will?"  Dick  laughed  harshly. 
"Then  be  it  so." 

"I  know  just  what  they  did." 

She  placed  the  men  back  to  back,  so  that 
Austin  faced  the  further  end  of  the  room 
and  Dick  the  open  French  window.  They 
were  to  take  three  paces,  count  one,  two, 
three,  and,  at  the  end  of  the  third  pace,  they 
were  to  turn  and  fire. 

Dick  felt  the  touch  of  Austin's  shoulder 
against  his,  and  the  flame  at  his  heart  grew 
fiercer  and  the  hell  in  his  throat  more  burn- 
ing, and  the  universe  whirled  round  in  a 
red  mist.  Viviette  moved  to  the  weapon- 
laden  table. 

"Now.    One — two — three!" 

They  paced  and  turned.  Dick  levelled 
his  pistol  instantly  at  Austin,  with  murder- 


Dick  glared  at  him 


THE  FAMOUS  PISTOLS     129 

ous  hate  in  his  eyes,  and  drew  the  trigger. 
The  pistol  clicked  harmlessly.  Austin,  self- 
conscious,  did  not  raise  his  pistol.  But 
Dick,  broadening  his  chest,  glared  at  him 
and  shouted,  wildly,  madly: 

"Fire,  damn  you!  Fire!  Why  the  devil 
@on't  you  fire?" 

The  cry  was  real,  vibrant  with  fury  and 
'despair.  Austin  looked  at  him  for  an 
amazed  moment;  then,  throwing  his  pistol 
on  to  one  of  the  arm-chairs,  he  came  up  to 
him. 

"What  fool's  game  are  you  playing,  Dick? 
Are  you  drunk?" 

Katherine,  with  a  low  cry,  flung  herself 
between  them,  and,  clinging  to  Dick's  arm, 
took  the  pistol  from  his  hand. 

"No  more  of  this — no  more.  The  duel  has 
been  too  much  like  reality  already." 

Dick  staggered  to  a  straight-backed  chair 
by  the  wall,  and,  sitting  down,  wiped  his 
forehead.  He  had  grown  deathly  white. 


130  VIVIETTE 

The  flames  had  been  suddenly  quenched 
within  him,  and  he  felt  cold  and  sick.  Vivi- 
ette,  in  alarm,  ran  to  his  side.  What  was  the 
matter?  Was  he  faint?  Let  her  take  him 
into  the  fresh  air.  Austin  came  up.  But  at 
his  approach  Dick  rose  and  shrank  away, 
glancing  at  him  furtively  out  of  bloodshot 
eyes. 

"Yes.  The  heat  has  oppressed  me.  I'm 
not  well.  I'll  go  out." 

He  stumbled  blindly  towards  the  French 
window.  Viviette  followed  him,  but  he 
turned  on  her  rudely  and  thrust  her  back. 

"I'm  not  well,  I  tell  you.  I  don't  want 
your  help.  Let  me  alone." 

He  passed  through  the  French  window 
on  to  the  terrace.  The  sky  had  clouded  over, 
and  a  drizzle  had  begun  to  fall. 

Viviette  felt  curiously  frightened,  but  she 
put  on  an  air  of  bravado  as  she  came  down 
the  gallery. 


THE  FAMOUS  PISTOLS     131 

"Have  you  all  been  rehearsing  this  little 
comedy?" 

No  mirthful  response  lit  either  face.  She 
read  condemnation  in  both  pairs  of  eyes. 
For  the  first  time  in  her  life  she  felt  daunted, 
humiliated.  She  knew  nothing  more  be- 
yond the  fact  that  in  deliberate  coquetry  she 
had  pitted  brother  against  brother,  and  that 
something  cruel  and  tragical  had  happened 
for  which  she  was  being  judged.  Neither 
spoke.  She  summoned  her  outer  dignity, 
tossed  her  pretty  head,  and  went  out  by  the 
end  door  which  Austin  in  cold  politeness  held 
open  for  her.  Then  she  mounted  to  her 
bedroom,  and,  throwing  herself  on  her  bed, 
burst  into  a  passion  of  meaningless  weep- 
ing. 

Katherine  handed  Austin  the  pistol  which 
she  had  taken  from  Dick's  hand. 

"Now  you'll  believe  what  I  told  you." 

"I  believe  it,"  said  Austin  gravely. 

"That  duel  was  not  all  play-acting." 


132  VIVIETTE 

"That,"  said  he,  "was  absurd.  Dick  has 
been  drinking.  It  was  a  silly  farce.  Viviette 
egged  him  on  until  he  seemed  to  take  it 
seriously." 

"He  did  take  it  seriously,  Austin.  He's 
in  a  dangerous  mood.  If  I  were  you  I  should 
be  careful.  Take  a  woman's  warning." 

He  stood  for  a  moment  in  deep  thought, 
his  gaze  absently  fixed  on  the  weapon  he  held 
in  his  hand.  Suddenly  a  glint  of  something 
strange  caught  his  eye.  He  started,  but 
recovered  himself  quickly. 

"I'll  take  your  warning,  Katherine. 
Here's  my  hand  upon  it." 

A  moment  later,  when  he  was  alone,  he 
uncocked  the  pistol — Dick's  pistol.  The 
glint  had  not  been  imaginary.  It  was  a  per- 
cussion cap.  With  trembling  fingers  he 
picked  it  off  the  nipple.  He  passed  his  hand 
across  his  damp  forehead,  for  he  felt  faint 
with  dread.  But  the  task  had  to  be  ac- 
complished. He  unscrewed  the  ramrod  and 


THE  FAMOUS  PISTOLS     133 

picked  out  the  wad,  a  piece  of  white  paper 
which  dropped  on  the  floor.  From  the  bar- 
rel held  downward  a  bullet  dropped  with 
a  dead,  fateful  thud  on  the  floor.  More  paper 
wad — a  slithering  shower  of  gunpowder. 
He  put  the  pistol  down,  and  took  up  the 
one  he  himself  had  used  from  the  chair  where 
he  had  thrown  it.  It  was  unloaded.  His 
eye  fell  on  the  bits  of  white  paper.  He 
picked  them  up  and  unfolded  them.  The 
daily  newspaper  lay  by  the  stove,  with  the 
corner  torn  accusingly. 

Then  he  understood.  He  sank  into  a 
chair,  paralysed  with  horror.  It  was  Dick's 
pistol  that  was  loaded.  Dick  had  meant  to 
murder  him.  By  the  grace  of  God  the  pistol 
had  missed  fire.  But  Dick,  his  own  brother, 
had  meant  to  murder  him.  An  hour  later  he 
walked  out  of  the  room,  the  case  of  pistols 
under  his  arm,  with  the  drawn  face  of  an  old 
man. 

It  was  not  until  Dick  had  stumbled  five  or 


134  VIVIETTE 

six  miles  through  the  drenching  downpour 
that  the  thought  reached  his  dulled  brain  that 
he  had  left  the  pistols  loose  for  anyone  to 
examine.  The  thought  was  like  a  great 
stone  hitting  him  on  the  side  of  the  head. 
He  turned  and  began  to  run  homewards, 
like  a  hunted  man  in  desperate  flight. 


CHAPTER  V 

A  CRISIS 

VIVIETTE  having  repaired  the  dis- 
order caused  by  her  tears  went  down 
to  tea.  Mrs.  Ware,  Katherine,  and  a  curate 
deliberately  calling  or  taking  shelter  from 
the  rain  were  in  the  drawing-room.  Austin, 
to  his  mother's  mild  astonishment,  had  sent 
down  a  message  to  the  effect  that  he  was 
busy.  On  ordinary  occasions  Viviette  would 
have  flirted  monstrously  with  the  clerical 
youth,  and  sent  him  away  undecided  whether 
to  offer  to  share  his  lodgings  and  hundred 
pounds  a  year  with  her,  or  to  turn  Catholic 
and  become  a  monk.  But  now  she  had  no 
mind  to  flirtation.  She  left  him  to  the  un- 
disturbing  wiles  of  Mrs.  Ware,  and  petted 

and  surreptitiously  fed  Dick's  Irish  terrier, 
135 


136  VIVIETTE 

whose  brown  eyes  looked  pathetic  inquiry 
as  to  his  master's  whereabouts.  She  was 
sobered  by  the  uncomprehended  scene  in  the 
armoury — sobered  by  Dick's  violence  and 
by  Austin's  final  coldness.  A  choice  had 
been  put  before  her  in  deadly  earnest;  she 
had  refused  to  make  one.  But  the  choice 
would  have  to  be  made  very  soon,  unless  she 
sent  both  her  lovers  packing,  a  step  which 
she  did  not  for  a  moment  contemplate. 

"You  must  promise  to  marry  one  or  the 
other  and  end  this  tension,"  said  Katherine, 
a  little  later,  after  the  curate  had  gone  with 
Mrs.  Ware  to  look  at  her  greenhouses. 

"I  wish  to  goodness  I  could  marry  them 
both,"  said  Viviette.  "Have  a  month  with 
each,  turn  and  turn  about.  It  would  be 
ideal." 

"It  would  be  altogether  horrid!"  exclaimed 
Katherine.  "How  could  such  a  thought  en- 
ter your  head?" 

"I  suppose  it  must  have  entered  every 


A  CRISIS  137 

woman's  head  who  has  two  men  she's  fond  of 
in  love  with  her  at  once.  I  said  yesterday 
that  it  was  great  fun  being  a  woman.  I 
find  it's  a  d.d.d.d.  imposition!" 

"For  heaven's  sake,  child,  make  up  your 
mind  quickly,"  said  Katherine. 

Viviette  sighed.  Which  should  it  be? 
Dick,  with  his  great  love  and  rough  tender- 
ness and  big,  protecting  arms,  or  Austin  with 
his  conquering  ways,  his  wit,  his  charm,  his 
perception?  Austin  could  give  her  the  lux- 
ury that  her  sensuous  nature  delighted  in, 
social  position,  the  brilliant  life  of  London. 
What  could  Dick  give  her  ?  It  would  always 
be  a  joy  to  dress  herself  for  Austin.  Dick 
would  be  content  if  she  went  about  in  raiment 
made  of  dusters  and  bath  towels.  In  return, 
what  could  she  give  each  of  these  men?  She 
put  the  question  to  herself.  She  was  not 
mercenary  or  heartless.  She  gave  of  her- 
self freely  and  loved  the  giving.  What 
could  she  give  to  Austin?  What  could  she 


138  VIVIETTE 

give  to  Dick?  These  questions,  in  her  sober 
mood,  weighed  the  others  down. 

When  the  rain  ceased  and  a  pale  sun  had 
dried  the  gravel,  she  went  out  into  the 
grounds  by  herself  and  faced  the  problem. 
She  sighed  again — many  times.  If  only 
they  would  let  her  have  her  fun  out  and  give 
her  answer  six  months  hence! 

Her  meditations  were  cut  short  by  the 
arrival  of  a  telegraph  boy  on  his  bicycle  at 
the  front  gate.  He  gave  her  the  telegram. 
It  was  for  Austin.  Her  heart  beat.  She 
went  into  the  house  with  the  yellow  envelope 
containing  Dick's  destiny  and  mounted  to 
the  little  room  off  the  first  landing  which 
had  been  Austin's  private  study  since  his 
boyhood.  She  knocked.  Austin's  voice  bade 
her  enter.  He  rose  from  the  desk  where, 
pen  in  hand,  he  had  been  sitting  before  st 
blank  sheet  of  paper,  and  without  a  word 
took  the  telegram.  She  noticed  with  a  shock 
that  he  had  curiously  changed.  The  quick, 


A  CRISIS  139 

brisk  manner  had  gone.    His  face  was  grey. 

"It  is  the  telegram,  isn't  it?"  she  asked 
eagerly. 

"Yes,"  said  he,  handing  it  to  her.  "It's 
from  Lord  Overton." 

She  read:  "The  very  man.  Send  him 
along  to  me  early  to-morrow.  Hope  he  can 
start  immediately." 

"Oh,  how  splendid!"  she  exclaimed  with 
a  little  gasp  of  happiness.  "How  utterly 
splendid!  Thank  heaven!" 

"Yes.  Thank  heaven,"  Austin  acquiesced 
gravely.  "I  forgot  to  mention  to  you  that 
Lord  Overton  knows  Dick  personally,"  he 
added,  after  a  pause.  "They  met  at  my 
house  the  last  time  Dick  was  in  London." 

"This  is  good  news,"  said  Viviette.  "At 
last  I  can  give  him  a  birthday  present  worth 
having." 

"He  will  not  be  here  for  his  birthday," 
said  Austin,  in  cold,  even  tones.  "He  must 
catch  the  mail  to-night." 


140  VIVIETTE 

Viviette  echoed:     "To-night?" 

"And  in  all  probability  he  will  sail  for 
Vancouver  in  a  day  or  two.  It  won't  be 
worth  his  while  to  come  back  here." 

She  laid  a  hand  on  her  heart,  which  flut- 
tered painfully. 

"Then — then — we'll  never  see  him  again?" 

"Probably  not." 

"I  didn't  think  it  would  be  so  sudden,"  she 
said,  a  little  wildly. 

"Neither  did  I.    But  it's  for  the  best." 

"But  supposing  he  wants  some  time  to 
look  about  him?" 

"I'll  see  to  everything,"  said  Austin. 

"Anyhow,  I  must  be  the  first  to  tell  him," 
said  Viviette. 

"You  will  do  me  a  very  great  favour  if 
you  will  let  me  have  that  privilege,"  said 
Austin.  "I  make  a  particular  point  of  it. 
I  have  some  serious  business  to  discuss  with 
him  before  dinner,  and  that  will  be  the  time 
for  me  to  break  the  news." 


A  CRISIS  141 

He  was  no  longer  the  fairy  godmother's 
devoted  and  humble  factotum.  He  spoke 
with  a  cold  air  of  authority  that  chilled  the 
fairy  godmotherdom  in  Viviette's  bosom. 
Her  prettly  little  scheme  dwindled  into 
childishness  before  the  dark,  incomprehended 
thing  that  had  happened.  She  assented  with 
unusual  meekness. 

"But  I'm  desperately  disappointed,"  she 
said. 

"My  dear  Viviette,"  he  answered  more 
kindly,  and  looking  at  her  with  some  wist- 
fulness,  "the  pleasures  and  even  the  joy  of 
life  have  to  give  way  to  the  sober,  business 
side  of  existence.  It  isn't  very  gay,  I  know, 
but  we  can't  alter  it." 

He  held  out  his  hand.  Instinctively  she 
gave  him  hers.  He  raised  it  to  his  lips  and 
held  the  door  open  for  her.  She  went  out 
scarcely  knowing  that  she  had  been  dis- 
missed. Austin  closed  the  door,  stood  un- 
steadily for  a  moment  like  a  man  stricken 


142  VIVIETTE 

with  great  pain,  and  then,  sitting  down  at 
his  desk  again,  put  his  elbows  on  the  table, 
rested  his  head  in  his  hands,  and  stared  at  the 
white  piece  of  paper.  When  would  Dick 
come  home?  He  had  given  orders  that  Dick 
should  be  asked  to  go  to  him  as  soon  as  he 
arrived.  Would  Dick  ever  come  home 
again?  It  was  quite  possible  that  some  mis- 
fortune might  have  happened.  Tragedy  is 
apt  to  engender  tragedy.  He  shuddered, 
hearing  in  his  fancy  the  tramp  of  men,  and 
seeing  a  shrouded  thing  they  carried  across 
the  hall.  He  bitterly  accused  himself  for 
not  having  sought  Dick  far  and  wide  as  soon 
as  he  had  made  his  ghastly  discovery.  But 
he  had  required  time  to  recover  his  balance. 
The  horrible  suddenness  had  stunned  him. 
Attempted  fratricide  is  not  a  common  hap- 
pening in  gentle  families.  He  had  to  accus- 
tom himself  to  the  atmosphere  of  the  ab- 
normal, so  as  to  state  the  psychological  case 
in  its  numberless  ramifications.  This  he 


A  CRISIS  143 

had  done.  His  head  was  clear.  His  unal- 
terable decision  made.  Now  the  minutes 
dragged  with  leaden  feet  until  Dick  should 
come. 

Viviette  was  the  first  to  see  him.  She  had 
dressed  early  for  dinner,  and,  as  the  late 
June  afternoon  had  turned  out  fine,  was  tak- 
ing her  problem  out  to  air  on  the  terrace 
when  she  came  upon  him  standing  at  the  door 
of  his  armoury.  His  hair  was  wet  and  mat- 
ted, his  eyes  bloodshot,  his  clothes  dripping, 
and  he  himself  splashed  with  mud  from  head 
to  foot.  He  trembled  all  over,  shaken  by  a 
great  terror.  The  case  of  pistols  had  gone. 
Who  had  taken  them?  Had  the  loaded  pis- 
tol been  discovered? 

As  Viviette  appeared,  robed  in  deep  blue 
chiffon  that  seemed  torn  from  the  deep  blue 
evening  sky,  and  looking,  in  the  man's  mad- 
dened eyes,  magically  beautiful,  he  held  out 
imploring  hands. 


144  VIVIETTE 

"Come  in  for  a  moment.  For  the  love  of 
God  come  in  for  a  moment." 

He  stepped  back  invitingly.  She  hesi- 
tated for  a  second  on  the  threshold,  and  then 
followed  him  down  the  dim  gallery,  past  the 
screen  where  all  the  swords  and  helmets  lay 
scattered  on  the  table.  He  looked  at  her 
haggardly,  and  she  met  his  gaze  with  kind 
eyes  in  which  there  was  no  mockery.  TsTo. 
Nothing  had  happened,  he  told  himself; 
otherwise  she  would  shrink  from  him  as  from 
something  accursed. 

"My  God,  if  you  knew  how  I  love  you!" 
he  said  hoarsely.  "My  God,  if  you  only 
knew!" 

His  suffering  racked  her  heart.  All  her 
pity  melted  over  him.  She  laid  her  caress- 
ing fingers  on  his  arm. 

"Oh,  my  poor  Dick!"  she  said. 

The  touch,  the  choke  in  her  voice,  brought 
about  Viviette's  downfall.  Perhaps  she 
meant  it  to  do  so.  Who  can  tell?  What 


He  held  out  imploring  hands 


A  CRISIS  145 

woman  ever  knows  ?  In  a  flash  his  arms  were 
around  her  and  his  kisses,  a  wild,  primitive 
man's  kisses,  were  on  her  lips,  her  eyes,  her 
cheeks.  Her  face  was  crushed  against  the 
rough  wet  tweed  of  his  coat,  and  its  odour, 
raw  and  coarse,  was  in  her  nostrils.  She 
drooped,  intoxicated,  gasping  for  breath  in 
his  unheeding  giant's  grip,  but  she  made  no 
effort  to  escape.  As  he  held  her  a  thrill, 
agonising  and  delicious,  swept  through  her, 
and  she  raised  her  lips  involuntarily  to  his 
and  closed  her  eyes.  At  last  he  released  her, 
mangled,  tousled,  her  very  self  a  draggled 
piece  of  chiffon  like  the  night-blue  frock, 
soiled  with  wet  and  mud. 

"Forgive  me,"  he  said,  "I  had  no  right. 
Least  of  all  now.  God  knows  what  is  to  be- 
come of  me.  But  whatever  happens,  you 
know  that  I  love  you." 

She  had  her  hands  clasped  before  her  face. 
She  could  not  look  at  him. 

"Yes,  I  know,"  she  murmured. 


146  VIVIETTE 

In  another  moment  he  had  gone,  leaving 
Viviette,  who  had  entered  the  room  a  girl, 
transformed  into  a  woman  with  the  first 
shiver  of  passion  in  her  veins. 

Dick,  vaguely  conscious  of  damp  and  dirt, 
went  up  to  his  bedroom.  The  sight  of  his 
evening  things  spread  out  on  the  bed  re- 
minded him  that  it  was  nearly  dinner-time. 
Mechanically  he  washed  and  dressed.  As  he 
was  buckling  on  his  ready-made  white  tie — 
his  clumsy  fingers,  in  spite  of  many  lessons 
from  Viviette,  had  never  learned  the  trick 
of  tying  a  bow — a  maid  brought  him  a  mes- 
sage. Mr.  Austin's  compliments  and  would 
he  see  Mr.  Austin  for  a  few  moments  in  Mr. 
Austin's  room.  The  words  were  like  the 
dreaded  tap  on  the  shoulder  of  the  hunted 
criminal. 

"I'll  come  at  once,"  he  said. 

He  found  Austin  sitting  on  the  chair  by 
his  desk,  resting  his  chin  on  his  elbow.  He 
did  not  stir  as  Dick  entered. 


A  CRISIS  147 

"You  want  to  speak  to  me?" 

"Yes,"  said  Austin.    "Will  you  sit  down  ?" 

"I'll  stand,"  said  Dick  impatiently. 
"What  have  you  to  say  to  me?" 

"I  believe  you  have  expressed  your  de- 
sire to  leave  England  and  earn  your  living 
in  a  new  country.  Is  that  so?" 

The  brothers'  eyes  met.  Dick  saw  that 
the  loaded  pistol  had  been  discovered,  and 
read  no  love,  no  pity,  only  condemnation  in 
the  hard  gaze.  Austin  was  pronouncing 
sentence. 

"Yes,"  he  replied  sullenly. 

"I  happen,"  said  Austin,  "to  know  of 
an  excellent  opportunity.  Lord  Overton, 
whom  you  have  met,  wants  a  man  to  take 
charge  of  his  timber  forests  in  Vancouver. 
The  salary  is  £700  a  year.  I  wired  to  Lord 
Overton  asking  for  the  appointment  on  your 
behalf.  This  is  his  answer." 

Dick  took  the  telegram  and  read  it  with 
muddled  head.  Austin  had  lost  no  time. 


148  VIVIETTE 

"You  see,  it  fits  in  admirably.  You  can 
start  by  the  night  mail.  Your  sudden  de- 
parture needs  no  other  explanation  to  the 
household  than  this  telegram.  I  hope  you 
understand." 

"I  understand,"  said  Dick  bitterly.  A 
sudden  memory  of  words  that  Viviette  had 
used  the  day  before  occurred  to  him.  "I 
understand.  This  is  to  get  me  out  of  the 
way.  'David  put  Uriah  in  the  forefront  of 
the  battle.'  Vancouver  is  the  forefront." 

"Don't  you  think  we  had  better  avoid  all 
unprofitable  discussion?"  Austin  rose  and 
confronted  him.  "I  expect  you  to  accept 
this  offer  and  my  conditions." 

"And  if  I  refuse?"  asked  Dick,  with  ris- 
ing anger.  "What  dare  you  threaten  me 
with?" 

Austin  raised  a  deprecatory  hand. 

"Do  you  suppose  I'm  going  to  threaten 
you?  I  simply  expect  you  not  to  refuse. 


A  CRISIS  149 

Your  conscience  must  tell  you  that  I  have 
the  right  to  do  so.  Doesn't  it?" 

Dick  glowered  sullenly  at  (he  wall  and 
tugged  his  great  moustache. 

"You  force  me  to  touch  on  things  I  should 
have  liked  to  keep  hidden,"  said  Austin. 
"Very  well."  He  took  a  scrap  of  crumpled 
paper  from  the  desk.  "Do  you  recognise 
this?  It  formed  the  wad  of  the  pistol  that 
was  in  your  hand." 

Dick  started  back  a  pace.  "You're 
wrong,"  he  gasped.  "It  was  your  pistol 
that  was  loaded." 

"No.  Yours.  The  cap  missed  fire,  or  I 
should  have  been  a  dead  man — murdered  by 
my  brother." 

"Stop,"  cried  Dick.  "Not  murdered. 
No,  no,  not  murdered.  It  was  in  fair  fight. 
I  gave  you  the  choice.  When  I  thought  I 
had  the  unloaded  one  I  called  on  you  to  fire. 
Why  the  devil  didn't  you?  I  wanted  you  to 
fire.  I  was  mad  for  you  to  fire.  I  wanted 


150  VIVIETTE 

to  be  killed  there  and  then.  No  one  can  say 
I  shirked  it.  I  gave  you  your  chance." 

"That's  nothing  to  do  with  it,"  said  Aus- 
tin sternly.  "When  you  fired  you  meant 
murder.  Your  face  meant  killing.  And 
supposing  I  had  fired — and  killed  you! 
Good  God!  I  would  sooner  you  had  killed 
me  than  burdened  my  soul  with  your  death. 
It  would  have  been  less  cowardly.  Yes, 
cowardly.  The  conditions  were  not  even. 
To  me  it  was  trivial  fooling.  To  you,  deadly 
earnest.  Are  you  not  man  enough  to  see 
that  I  have  the  right  to  exact  some  pen- 
alty?" 

Dick  remained  silent  for  a  few  moments, 
while  the  powers  of  light  and  darkness  strug- 
gled together  in  his  soul.  At  last  he  said  in 
a  low  voice,  hanging  his  head : 

"I'll  accept  your  terms." 

"You  leave  by  the  night  mail  for  Wither- 
by." 

"Very  well." 


A  CRISIS  151 

"There's  another  point,"  said  Austin. 
"The  most  important  point  of  all.  You  will 
not  speak  alone  to  Viviette  before  you  start." 

Dick  turned  with  an  angry  flash, 

"What?" 

"You  will  not  speak  to  Viviette  alone. 
When  you  are  gone — for  there  is  no  need 
for  you  to  come  back  here  before  you  sail — 
you  will  not  write  to  her.  You  will  go 
absolutely  and  utterly  out  of  her  life." 

Dick  broke  into  harsh,  furious  laughter. 

"And  leave  her  to  you?  I  might  have 
known  that  the  lawyer  would  have  had  me  in 
the  trap.  But  this  time  you've  over-reached 
yourself.  I'll  never  give  her  up.  Do  you 
hear  me?  Never — never — never!  I  would 
go  through  the  horror  of  to-day  a  thousand 
times — day  by  day  until  I  die,  rather  than 
give  her  up  to  you.  You  shall  not  take  this 
last  thing  from  me — this  hope  of  winning 
her — as  you  have  taken  everything  else.  You 
have  supplanted  me  since  first  you  learned 


152  VIVIETTE 

to  speak.  It  has  been  Esau  and  Jacol 
"Or  Cain  and  Abel,"  said  Austin. 
"You  can  taunt  me  if  you  like,"  cried 
Dick,  goaded  to  fury,  and  the  whole  bitter- 
ness of  a  lifetime  surging  up  in  passionate 
speech.  "I  have  got  past  feeling  it.  Your 
life  has  been  one  continual  taunt  of  me.  You 
have  thought  me  a  dull,  good-natured  boor, 
delighted  to  have  a  word  thrown  at  him  now 
and  again  by  the  elegant  gentleman,  and 
rather  honoured  than  otherwise  to  be  ridden 
over  roughshod,  or  kicked  into  the  mud  when 
it  pleased  the  elegant  gentleman  to  ride  by. 
No,  listen  to  me,"  he  thundered,  as  Austin 
was  about  to  protest.  "By  God,  you  shall 
listen  this  time.  You've  made  me  your  butt, 
your  fool,  your  doer  of  trivial  offices.  I've 
wondered  sometimes  why  you  haven't  ad- 
dressed me  as  'my  good  fellow,'  and  asked 
me  to  touch  my  cap  to  you.  I've  borne  it  all 
these  years  without  complaining — but  do  you 
know  what  it  is  to  eat  your  heart  out  and 


A  CRISIS  153 

remain  silent?  I  have  borne  it  for  my 
mother's  sake — in  spite  of  her  dislike  of  me 
— and  for  your  sake,  because  I  loved  you. 
Yes.  If  ever  one  man  has  loved  another  I've 
loved  you.  But  you  took  no  heed.  What 
was  my  affection  worth?  I  was  only  the 
stupid,  dull  boor  .  .  .  but  I  suffered  it  all 
till  you  came  between  me  and  her.  I  had 
spent  the  whole  passion  of  my  life  upon  her. 
She  was  the  only  thing  left  in  the  world  for 
which  I  felt  fiercely.  I  hungered  for  her, 
thirsted  for  her,  my  brain  throbbed  at  the 
thought  of  her,  the  blood  rushed  through  my 
veins  at  the  sight  of  her.  And  you  came  be- 
tween us.  And  if  I  have  damned  my  soul, 
by  God!  the  damnation  is  your  doing.  Do 
you  think,  while  I  live,  that  I'll  give  her  up 
to  you?  I'll  get  my  soul's  worth,  anyhow." 
He  smote  his  palm  with  his  clenched  fist 
and  strode  about  the  little  room.  Austin  sat 
for  a  while  dumb  with  astonishment  and  dis- 
may. His  cherished,  lifelong  conception  of 


154  VIVIETTE 

"dear  old  Dick"  lay  shattered.  A  new  Dick 
appeared  to  him,  a  personality  stronger, 
deeper  than  he  could  have  imagined.  A  new 
respect  for  him,  also  a  new  pity  that  was 
generous  and  not  contemptuous,  crept  into 
his  heart. 

"Listen,  Dick,"  said  he,  using  the  familiar 
name  for  the  first  time.  "Do  I  understand 
that  you  accuse  me  of  sending  you  out  to 
Vancouver  and  hastening  your  departure  so 
as  to  gain  my  own  ends  with  Viviette?" 

"Yes,"  returned  Dick.  "I  do.  You  have 
laid  this  trap  for  me." 

"Have  you  ever  heard  me  lie  to  you?" 

"No,"  said  Dick. 

"Then  I  tell  you,  as  man  to  man,  that  until 
this  afternoon  I  had  no  suspicion  that  your 
feelings  towards  Viviette  were  deeper  than 
those  of  an  elder  brother." 

Dick  laughed  bitterly.  "You  couldn't 
conceive  a  clod  like  me  falling  in  love. 
Well?" 


A  CRISIS  155 

"That's  beside  the  question,"  said  Austin. 
"I  did  not  behave  dishonourably  towards 
you.  I  came  down.  I  fell  in  love  with  Vivi- 
ette.  How  could  I  help  it?  How  could  I 
help  loving  her?  How  could  I  help  telling 
her  so?  But  she  is  young  and  innocent,  and 
her  heart  is  her  own  yet.  Tell  me — man  to 
man — dare  you  say  that  you  have  won  it  or 
that  I  have  won  it?" 

"What's  the  good  of  talking?"  said  Dick, 
relapsing  into  his  sullen  mood.  "If  I  go 
she  is  yours.  But  I  won't  go." 

Austin  rose  again  and  laid  his  hand  on  his 
brother's  arm. 

"Dick.  If  I  give  her  up,  will  you  obey 
my  conditions?" 

"You  give  her  up  voluntarily?  Why 
should  you?" 

"A  damnable  thing  was  done  this  after- 
noon," said  Austin.  "I  see  I  had  my  share 
in  it,  and  I  as  well  as  you  have  to  make 
reparation.  Man  alive!  You  are  my 


156  VIVIETTE 

brother,"  he  cried  with  an  outburst  of  feel- 
ing. "The  nearest  thing  in  the  world  to  me. 
Do  you  think  I  could  rest  happy  with  the 
knowledge  that  a  murderous  devil  is  always 
in  your  heart,  and  that  it's  in  my  power  to 
— to  exorcise  it  ?  Do  you  think  the  cost  mat- 
ters? Come.  Shall  we  make  this  bargain? 
Yes  or  no?" 

"It's  easy  for  you  to  promise,"  said  Dick. 
"But  when  I  am  gone,  how  can  you  resist?" 

Austin  hesitated  for  a  moment,  biting  his 
lips.  Then,  with  the  air  of  a  man  who  makes 
an  irrevocable  step  in  life,  he  crossed  the 
room  and  rang  the  bell. 

"Ask  Mrs.  Holroyd  if  she  will  have  the 
kindness  to  come  here  for  a  minute,"  he  said 
to  the  servant. 

Dick  regarded  him  wonderingly.  "What 
has  Mrs.  Holroyd  to  do  with  our  affairs?" 

"You'll  see,"  said  Austin,  and  there  was 
silence  between  them  till  Katherine  came. 

She  looked  from  one  joyless  face  to  the 


A  CRISIS  157 

other,  and  sat  without  a  word  on  the  chair 
that  Austin  placed  for  her.  Her  woman's 
intuition  divined  a  sequel  to  the  afternoon's 
drama.  Some  of  it  she  had  already  learned. 
For,  going  earlier  into  Viviette's  room,  she 
had  found  her  white  and  shaken,  still  dis- 
ordered in  hair  and  dress  as  Dick  had  left 
her;  and  Viviette  had  sobbed  on  her  bosom 
and  told  her  with  some  incoherence  that  the 
monkey  had  at  last  hit  the  lyddite  shell  in 
the  wrong  place,  and  that  it  was  all  over 
with  the  monkey.  So,  before  Austin  spoke, 
she  half  divined  why  he  had  summoned  her. 

Her  heart  throbbed  painfully. 

"Dick  and  I,"  said  Austin,  "have  been 
talking  of  serious  matters,  and  we  need  your 
help." 

She  smiled  wanly.  "I'll  do  whatever  I 
can,  Austin." 

"You  said  this  afternoon  you  would  do 
anything  I  asked  you.  Do  you  remember?" 

"Yes,  I  said  so — and  I  meant  it." 


158  VIVIETTE 

"You  said  it  in  reply  to  my  question 
whether  you  would  accept  me  if  I  asked  you 
to  marry  me." 

Dick  started  from  the  sullen  stupor  into 
which  he  had  fallen  and  listened  with  per- 
plexed interest. 

"You  are  not  quite  right  in  your  tenses, 
Austin,"  she  remarked.  "You  said :  Would 
I  have  accepted  you  if  you  had  asked  me?" 

"I  want  to  change  the  tense  into  the  pres- 
ent," he  replied. 

She  met  his  glance  calmly.  "You  ask  me 
to  marry  you  in  spite  of  what  you  told  me 
this  afternoon?" 

"In  spite  of  it  and  because  of  it,"  he  said, 
drawing  up  a  chair  near  to  her.  "A  great 
crisis  has  arisen  in  our  lives  that  must  make 
you  forget  other  words  I  spoke  this  after- 
noon. Those  other  words  and  everything 
connected  with  them  I  blot  out  of  my  mem- 
ory forever.  I  want  you  to  do  me  an  infinite 
service.  If  there  had  been  no  deep  affection 


A  CRISIS  159 

between  us  I  should  not  dare  to  ask  you.  I 
want  you  to  be  my  wife,  to  take  me  into  your 
keeping,  to  trust  me  as  an  upright  man  to 
devote  my  life  to  your  happiness.  I  swear 
I'll  never  give  you  a  moment's  cause  for 
regret." 

She  plucked  for  a  while  at  her  gown.  It 
was  a  strange  wooing.  But  in  her  sweet  way 
she  had  given  him  her  woman's  aftermath  of 
love.  It  was  a  gentle,  mellow  gift,  far  re- 
moved from  the  summer  blaze  of  passion, 
and  it  had  suffered  little  harm  from  the  sad- 
ness of  the  day.  She  saw  that  he  was  in  great 
stress.  She  knew  him  to  be  a  loyal  gentle- 
man. 

"Is  this  the  result  of  that  scene  in  the  ar- 
moury?" she  asked  quietly. 

"Yes,"  said  Austin. 

"I  was  right  then.  It  was  a  matter  of 
life  and  death." 

"It  was,"  said  he.    "So  is  this." 

She  looked  again  from  one  face  to  the 


160  VIVIETTE 

other,  rose,  hesitated  for  a  moment — and 
then  held  out  her  hand.  "I  am  willing  to 
trust  you,  Austin,"  she  said. 

He  touched  her  hand  with  his  lips  and 
said  gravely:  "I  will  not  fail  your  trust." 

As  soon  as  she  had  gone  he  went  to  the 
chair  where  Dick  sat  in  gloomy  remorse  and 
laid  a  hand  on  his  shoulder. 

"Well?"  said  he. 

"I  agree,"  Dick  groaned,  without  looking 
up.  "I  have  no  alternative.  I  appreciate 
your  generosity." 

Then  Austin  spoke  of  the  appointment  in 
Vancouver.  He  explained  how  the  idea  had 
occurred  to  him;  how  Viviette  had  come  late 
the  night  before  to  tell  him  of  what  he  had 
never  before  suspected — Dick's  desire  to  go 
abroad ;  how  they  had  conspired  to  give  him 
a  birthday  surprise;  how  they  had  driven 
over  to  Witherby  to  send  the  telegram  to 
Lord  Overton.  And  as  he  spoke,  Dick 


A  CRISIS  161 

looked  at  him  with  a  new  ghastliness  on  his 
face. 

"This  afternoon — in  the  dining-room — 
when  you  said  that  Viviette  had  told  you 
everything ?" 

"About  your  wish  to  go  to  the  Colonies. 
What  else?" 

"And  what  I  overheard  in  the  armoury — 
about  a  telegram — telling  me — putting  me 
out  of  my  misery?" 

"Only  whether  we  should  tell  you  to-night 
or  to-morrow  about  the  appointment.  Dick 
— Dick,"  said  Austin,  deeply  moved  by  the 
great  fellow's  collapse,  "if  I  have  wronged 
you  all  these  years,  it  was  through  want  of 
insight,  not  want  of  affection.  If  I  have 
taunted  you,  as  you  say,  it  was  merely  a 
lifelong  habit  of  jesting  which  you  never 
seemed  to  resent.  I  was  unconscious  of  hurt- 
ing you.  For  my  blindness  and  carelessness 
I  beg  your  forgiveness.  With  regard  to 
Viviette — I  ought  to  have  seen,  but  I  didn't. 


162  VIVIETTE 

I  don't  say  you  had  no  cause  for  jealousy — 
but  as  God  hears  me — all  the  little  con- 
spiracy to-day  was  lovingly  meant — all  to 
give  you  pleasure.  I  swear  it." 

Dick  rose  and  stumbled  about  among  the 
furniture.  The  setting  sun  fell  just  below 
the  top  of  the  casement  window,  and  its 
direct  rays  flooded  the  little  room  and  showed 
Dick  in  a  strange,  unearthly  light. 

"I  wronged  you,"  he  said  bitterly.  "Even 
in  my  passions  I'm  a  dull  fool.  I  thought 
you  a  damned  cad,  and  I  got  more  and  more 
furious,  and  I  drank — I  was  drunk  all  this 
afternoon — and  madness  came,  and  when  I 
saw  you  kiss  her — yes,  I  saw  you,  I  was  peep- 
ing from  behind  the  screen — things  went  red 
before  my  eyes,  and  it  was  then  that  I  loaded 
the  pistol  to  shoot  you  on  the  spot.  God 
forgive  me!  May  God  have  mercy  upon 
me." 

He  leant  his  arms  on  the  sill  and  buried 
his  face. 


A  CRISIS  163 

"I  can't  ask  your  forgiveness,"  he  went  on, 
after  a  moment.  "It  would  be  a  mockery." 
He  laughed  mirthlessly.  "How  can  I  say 
'I'm  sorry  I  meant  to  murder  you — please 
don't  think  anything  about  it  ?' '  He  turned 
with  a  fierce  gesture.  "Oh,  you  must  take 
it  all  as  said,  man!  Now,  have  you  finished 
with  me?  I  can't  stand  it  much  longer.  I 
agree  to  all  your  terms.  I'll  drive  over  to 
Witherby  now  and  wait  for  the  train — and 
you'll  be  free  of  me." 

He  turned  again  and  moodily  looked  out 
of  the  window  in  the  full  flood  of  the  sunset. 

"We  must  play  the  game,  Dick,"  said 
Austin  gently,  "and  go  through  the  horrible 
farce  of  dinner — for  mother's  sake." 

Dick  heard  him  vaguely.  Below,  on  the 
terrace,  Viviette  was  walking,  and  she  filled 
his  universe.  She  had  changed  the  bedrag- 
gled frock  for  the  green  one  she  had  worn 
the  night  before.  Presently  she  raised  her 
eyes  and  saw  him  leaning  out  of  the  window. 


164  VIVIETTE 

"Have  they  told  you  that  dinner  is  not  till 
a  quarter  past  eight?"  she  cried,  looking  de- 
liciously  upwards,  with  a  dainty  hand  to  her 
cheek.  "Lord  Banstead  sent  a  message  to 
mother  that  he  was  unexpectedly  detained, 
and  mother  has  put  back  dinner.  Isn't  it 
impudence?" 

But  Dick  was  far  too  crushed  with  misery 
to  respond.  He  nodded  dejectedly.  She 
remained  staring  up  at  him  for  a  while  and 
then  ran  into  the  house. 

Dick  listlessly  mentioned  the  postpone- 
ment of  dinner. 

"I'm  sorry  I  asked  the  little  brute,  but  I 
couldn't  avoid  it." 

"What  does  it  matter?"  said  Austin.  He 
was  silent  for  a  moment.  Then  he  came 
close  to  Dick. 

"Dick,"  said  he.  "Let  us  end  this  awful 
scene  as  friends  and  brothers.  As  Heaven 
hears  me,  there  is  no  bitterness  in  my  heart. 


A  CRISIS  165 

Only  deep  sorrow — and  love,  Dick.  Shake 
hands." 

Dick  took  his  hand  and  broke  down  ut- 
terly, and  said  such  things  of  himself  as 
other  men  do  not  like  to  hear.  Presently 
there  was  a  light  rap  of  knuckles  at  the  door. 
Austin  opened  it  and  beheld  Viviette. 

"I  won't  disturb  you,"  she  said;  "I  only 
want  to  give  this  note  to  Dick." 

"I  will  hand  it  to  him,"  said  Austin. 

She  thanked  him  and  departed.  He  closed 
the  door  and  gave  Dick  the  note.  Dick 
opened  it,  read,  and  with  a  great  cry  of 
"Viviette!"  rushed  to  the  door.  Austin  in- 
terposed, grasped  him  by  the  wrist: 

"What  are  you  doing?" 

"I'm  going  to  her,"  shouted  Dick  wildly, 
wrenching  himself  free.  "Read  this."  He 
held  up  the  note  before  Austin's  eyes,  with 
shaking  fingers.  Austin  read: 

"I  can't  bear  to  see  the  misery  on  your 
face,  when  I  can  make  you  happy.  I  love 


166  VIVIETTE 

you,  dear,  better  than  anything  on  earth. 
I  know  it  now,  and  I'll  go  out  with  you  to 
Vancouver." 

"She  loves  me.  She'll  marry  me.  She'll 
go  out  to  Vancouver!"  cried  Dick.  "It 
changes  everything.  I  must  go  to  her." 

"You  shall  not  go,"  said  Austin. 

"Shall  not?    Who  dares  prevent  me?' 

"I  do.    I  hold  you  to  your  word." 

"But,  man  alive !  she  loves  me — don't  you 
see?  The  bargain  is  dissolved.  This  is  none 
of  my  seeking.  She  comes  of  her  own  free 
will.  I  am  going  to  her." 

Austin  put  both  his  hands  affectionately 
on  the  big  man's  shoulders  and  forced  him 
into  a  chair. 

"Listen  to  me  just  for  one  minute,  Dick. 
Dick,  you  dare  not  marry.  Don't  drive  me 
to  tell  you  the  reason.  Can't  you  see  for 
yourself  why  I've  imposed  this  condition 
on  you  all  along?" 


A  CRISIS  167 

"I  know  no  reason,"  said  Dick.  "She 
loves  me,  and  that  is  enough." 

The  greyness  deepened  over  Austin's  face 
and  the  pain  in  his  eyes. 

"I  must  speak,  then,  in  plain  terms.  That 
horrible  murder  impulse  is  the  reason.  To- 
day, in  a  fit  of  frenzied  jealousy,  you  would 
have  killed  me,  your  brother.  Is  there  any 
guarantee  that,  in  another  fit  of  frenzied 
jealousy,  you  might  not ?" 

A  shudder  ran  through  Dick's  great 
frame.  He  stretched  out  his  hand.  "For 
God's  sake— don't." 

"I  must — until  you  see  this  ghastly  busi- 
ness in  its  true  aspect.  Look  at  the  lighter 
side  of  Viviette's  character.  She  is  gay,  fond 
of  admiration,  childishly  fond  of  teasing,  a 
bright  creature  of  bewildering  moods. 
Would  she  be  safe  in  your  hands?  Might 
you  not  one  day  again  see  things  red  before 
your  eyes  and  again  go  mad?" 


168  VIVIETTE 

"Don't  say  any  more,"  Dick  said  in  a 
choking  voice.  "I  can't  stand  it." 

"Heaven  knows,  I  didn't  want  to  say  as 
much." 

Dick  shuddered  again.  "Yes,  you  are 
right.  I  am  a  man  with  a  curse.  I  can't 
marry  her.  I  daren't." 


CHAPTER  VI 

VIVIETTE    TAKES   THE    RISK 

PRESENTLY  Dick  raised  the  face  of 
•••  Cain  when  he  told  the  Lord  that  his 
punishment  was  greater  than  he  could  bear. 
Tears  leaped  to  Austin's  eyes,  but  he  turned 
his  head  away  lest  Dick  should  see  them.  He 
would  have  given  years  of  his  life  to  spare 
Dick — everything  he  had  in  the  world — save 
his  deep  convictions  of  right  and  wrong. 
He  was  responsible  for  Viviette.  That  risk 
of  horror  he  could  not  let  her  run.  He  had 
hoped,  with  a  great  agony  of  hope,  that  Dick 
would  have  seen  it  for  himself.  To  formu- 
late it  had  been  torture.  But  he  could  not 
weaken.  The  barrier  between  Dick  and 
Viviette  was  not  of  his  making.  It  was 
composed  of  the  grim  psychological  laws 
169 


170  VIVIETTE 

that  govern  the  abnormal.  To  have  disre- 
garded it  would  have  been  a  crime  from 
which  his  soul  shrank.  All  the  despair  in 
Dick's  face,  though  it  wrung  his  heart,  could 
not  move  him.  It  was  terrible  to  be  chosen 
in  this  way  to  be  the  arbiter  of  Destiny.  But 
there  was  the  decree,  written  in  letters  of 
blood  and  flame.  And  Dick  had  bowed  to  it. 

"What's  to  become  of  her?"  he  groaned. 

"This  will  be  her  home,  as  it  always  has 
been,"  said  Austin. 

"I  don't  mean  that — but  between  us  we 
shall  break  her  heart.  She  has  given  it  to 
me  just  in  time  for  me  to  do  it.  My  luck!" 

Austin  tried  to  comfort  him.  A  girl's 
heart  was  not  easily  broken.  Her  pride 
would  suffer  most.  Pain  was  inevitable. 
But  Time  healed  many  wounds.  In  this 
uncertain  world  nothing  was  ever  so  good 
as  we  hoped,  and  nothing  ever  so  bad  as  we 
feared.  Dick  paid  little  heed  to  the  plati- 
tudes. 


TAKES  THE  RISK          171 

"She  must  be  told!" 

"Not  what  happened  this  afternoon,"  cried 
Austin  quickly.  "That  we  bury  forever 
from  all  human  knowledge." 

"Yes,"  said  Dick,  staring  in  front  of  him 
and  speaking  in  a  dull,  even  voice.  "We 
must  hide  that.  It's  not  a  pretty  thing  to 
spread  before  a  girl's  eyes.  It  will  be  always 
before  my  own — until  I  die.  But  she  must 
be  told  that  I  can't  marry  her.  I  can't  ride 
away  and  leave  her  in  doubt  and  wonder  for- 
ever and  ever." 

"Let  us  face  this  horrible  night  as  best 
we  can,"  said  Austin.  "Avoid  seeing  her 
alone.  You'll  be  with  mother  or  packing 
most  of  the  evening.  Slip  away  to  Witherby 
an  hour  or  so  before  your  time.  When 
you're  gone  I'll  arrange  matters.  Leave  it 
to  me." 

He  made  one  of  his  old,  self-confident 
gestures.  But  now  Dick  felt  no  resentment. 


172  VIVIETTE 

S 

His  spirit  in  its  deep  abasement  saw  in  Aus- 
tin the  better,  wiser,  stronger  man. 

At  a  quarter-past  eight  they  went  slowly 
downstairs  to  what  promised  to  be  a  night- 
mare kind  of  meal.  There  would  be  four 
persons,  Viviette,  Katherine,  and  them- 
selves, in  a  state  of  suppressed  eruption,  and 
two,  Mrs.  Ware  and  the  unspeakable  Ban- 
stead,  complacently  unaware  of  volcanic 
forces  around  them,  who  might  by  any  chance 
word  bring  about  disaster.  There  was  dan- 
ger, too — and  the  greatest — from  Viviette, 
ignorant  of  Destiny.  Austin  dreaded  the 
ordeal;  but  despair  and  remorse  had  be- 
numbed Dick's  faculties;  he  had  passed  the 
stage  at  which  men  fear.  With  his  hand  on 
the  knob  of  the  drawing-room  door  Austin 
paused  and  looked  at  him. 

"Pull  yourself  together,  man.  Play  your 
part.  For  God's  sake,  try  to  look  cheerful." 

Dick  tried.    Austin  shivered. 

"For  God's  sake,  don't,"  he  said. 


TAKES  THE  RISK  173 

They  entered  the  drawing-room,  expect- 
ing to  find  the  three  ladies,  and  possibly  Lord 
Banstead,  assembled  for  dinner.  To  Aus- 
tin's discomfiture,  Viviette  was  alone  in  the 
room.  She  rose,  made  a  step  or  two  to  meet 
them,  then  stopped. 

"What  a  pair  of  faces !  One  would  think 
it  were  the  eve  of  Dick's  execution,  and  you 
were  the  hangman  measuring  him  for  the 
noose." 

"Dick,"  said  Austin,  "is  leaving  us  to- 
night— possibly  for  many  years." 

"I  don't  see  that  he  is  so  very  greatly  to 
be  pitied,"  said  Viviette,  trying  in  vain  to 
meet  Dick's  eyes.  She  drew  him  a  pace  or 
two  aside. 

"Did  you  read  my  note — or  did  you  tear 
it  up  like  the  other  one?" 

"I  read  it,"  he  said,  looking  askance  at 
the  floor. 

"Then  why  are  you  so  woe-begone?" 

He  replied  in  a  helpless  way  that  he  was 


174  VIVIETTE 

not  woe-begone.  Viviette  was  puzzled,  hurt, 
somewhat  humiliated.  She  had  made  wo- 
man's great  surrender  which  is  usually  fol- 
lowed by  a  flourish  of  trumpets  very  gratify- 
ing to  hear.  In  fact,  to  most  women  the  sur- 
render is  worth  the  flourish.  But  the  recog- 
nition of  this  surrender  appeared  to  find  its 
celebration  in  a  funeral  march  with  muffled 
drums.  A  condemned  man  being  fitted  for 
the  noose,  as  she  had  suggested,  a  mute  con- 
scientiously mourning  at  his  own  funeral,  a 
man  who  had  lost  a  stately  demesne  in  Para- 
dise and  had  been  ironically  compensated 
by  the  gift  of  a  bit  of  foreshore  of  the  Styx 
could  not  have  worn  a  less  joyous  expression 
than  he  on  whom  she  had  conferred  the  boon 
of  his  heart's  desire. 

"You're  not  only  woe-begone,"  she  said, 
with  spirit,  "but  you're  utterly  miserable. 
I  think  I  have  a  right  to  know  the  reason. 
Tell  me,  what  is  it?" 

She  tapped  a  small,  impatient  foot. 


TAKES  THE  RISK  175 

"We  haven't  told  my  mother  yet,"  Austin 
explained,  "and  Dick  is  rather  nervous  as  to 
the  way  in  which  she  will  take  the  news." 

"Yes,"  said  Dick,  with  lame  huskiness. 
"It's  on  mother's  account." 

Viviette  laughed  somewhat  scornfully. 

"I  am  not  a  child,  my  dear  Austin.  No 
man  wears  a  face  like  that  on  account  of  his 
mother — least  of  all  when  he  meets  the  wo- 
man who  has  promised  to  be  his  wife." 

She  flashed  a  challenging  glance  at  Aus- 
tin, but  not  a  muscle  of  his  grey  face  re- 
sponded. Her  natural  expectations  were 
baffled.  There  was  no  start  of  amazement, 
no  fierce  movement  of  anger,  no  indignant 
look  of  reproach.  She  was  thrown  back  on 
herself.  She  said : 

"I  don't  think  you  quite  understand. 
Dick  had  two  aims  in  life — one  to  obtain  a 
colonial  appointment,  the  other — so  he  led 
me  to  suppose — to  marry  me.  He  has  the 


176  VIVIETTE 

appointment,  and  I  have  promised  to  marry 
him." 

"I  know,"  said  Austin,  "but  you  must 
make  allowances." 

"If  that's  all  you  can  say  on  behalf  of  your 
client,"  retorted  Viviette,  "I  rather  wonder 
at  your  success  as  a  barrister." 

"Don't  you  think,  my  dear,"  said  Austin 
gently,  "that  we  are  treading  on  delicate 
ground?" 

"Delicate  ground!"  she  scoffed.  "We 
seem  to  have  been  treading  on  a  volcano  all 
the  afternoon.  I'm  tired  of  it."  She  faced 
the  two  men  with  uplifted  head.  "I  want  an 
explanation." 

"Of  what?"  Austin  asked. 

"Of  Dick's  attitude.  What  has  he  got 
to  be  miserable  about?  Tell  me." 

"But  I'm  not  miserable,  my  dear  Vivi- 
ette," said  poor  Dick,  vainly  forcing  a  smile. 
"I'm  really  quite  happy." 

Her  woman's  intuition  rejected  the  pro- 


TAKES  THE  RISK          177 

test  with  contumely.  All  the  afternoon  he 
had  been  mad  with  jealousy  of  Austin.  An 
hour  ago  he  had  whirled  her  out  of  her  senses 
in  savage  passion.  But  a  few  minutes  be- 
fore she  had  given  him  all  a  woman  has  to 
give.  Now  he  met  her  with  hang-dog  visage, 
apologies  from  Austin,  and  milk-and-water 
asseveration  of  a  lover's  rapture.  The  most 
closely-folded  rosebud  miss  of  Early  Vic- 
torian times  could  not  have  faced  the  situa- 
tion without  showing  something  of  the  Eve 
that  lurked  in  the  heart  of  the  petals.  So 
much  the  less  could  Viviette,  child  of  a  freer, 
franker  day,  hide  her  just  indignation  under 
the  rose-leaves  of  maidenly  modesty. 

"Happy!"  she  echoed.  "I've  known  you 
since  I  was  a  child  of  three.  I  know  the 
meaning  of  every  light  and  every  shadow 
that  passes  over  your  face — except  this 
shadow  now.  What  does  it  mean?" 

She  asked  the  question  imperiously,  no 
longer  the  elfin  changeling,  the  fairy  of 


178  VIVIETTE 

bewildering  moods  of  Austin's  imagination, 
no  longer  the  laughing  coquette  of  Kath- 
erine's  less  picturesque  fancy,  but  a  modern 
young  woman  of  character,  considerably 
angered  and  very  much  in  earnest.  Austin 
bit  his  lip  in  perplexity.  Dick  looked  around 
like  a  hunted  animal  seeking  a  bolting-hole. 

"Dick  is  anxious,"  said  Austin,  at  length, 
seeing  that  some  explanation  must  be  given, 
"that  there  should  be  no  engagement  be- 
tween you  before  he  goes  out  to  Vancouver." 

"Indeed?"  said  Viviette.  "May  I  ask 
why?  As  this  concerns  Dick  and  myself, 
perhaps  you  will  leave  us  alone  for  a  moment 
so  that  Dick  may  tell  me." 

"No,  no,"  Dick  muttered  hurriedly. 
"Don't  leave  us,  Austin.  We  can't  talk  of 
such  a  thing  now." 

Again  she  tapped  her  foot  impatiently. 

"Yes,  now.  I'm  going  to  hear  the  reason 
now,  whatever  it  is." 

The  brothers  exchanged  glances.     Dick 


TAKES  THE  RISK  179 

turned  to  the  window,  and  stared  at  the  mel- 
low evening  sky. 

Austin  again  was  spokesman. 

"Dick  finds  he  has  made  a  terrible  and 
cruel  mistake.  One  that  concerns  you  in- 
timately." 

"Whatever  Dick  may  have  done  with  re- 
gard to  me,"  replied  Viviette,  "I  forgave 
him  for  it  beforehand.  When  once  I  give  a 
thing  I  don't  take  it  back.  I  have  given  him 
my  love  and  my  promise." 

"My  dear,"  said  Austin,  gravely  and 
kindly.  "Here  are  two  men  who  have  loved 
you  all  your  life.  Don't  think  hardly  of  us. 
You  must  be  brave  and  bear  a  great  shock. 
Dick  can't  marry  you." 

She  looked  at  him  incredulously. 

"Can't  marry  me?    Why  not?" 

"It  would  be  better  not  to  ask." 

She  moved  swiftly  to  Dick,  and  with  her 
light  touch  swung  him  round  to  face  the 
room. 


180  VIVIETTE 

"I  don't  understand.  Is  it  because  you're 
going  out  into  the  wilds  ?  That  doesn't  mat- 
ter. I  told  you  I  would  go  to  Vancouver 
with  you.  I  want  to  go.  My  happiness  is 
with  you." 

Dick  groaned.  "Don't  make  it  harder 
for  me." 

"What  are  you  keeping  from  me?"  she 
asked.  "Is  it  anything  you  don't  think  fit 
for  my  ears?  If  so,  speak.  I'm  no  longer 
a  child.  Is  there  another  woman  in  the 
case?" 

She  met  Austin's  eyes  full.  He  said: 
"No,  thank  God!  Nothing  of  that  sort." 
And  as  her  eyes  did  not  waver,  he  made 
the  bold  stroke.  "He  finds  that  he  doesn't 
love  you  as  much  as  he  thought.  There's 
the  whole  tragedy  in  a  few  words." 

She  reeled  back  as  if  struck.  "Dick 
doesn't  love  me?"  Then  the  announcement 
seemed  so  grotesque  in  its  improbability  that 
she  began  to  laugh,  a  trifle  hysterically. 


TAKES  THE  RISK  181 

"Is  this  true?" 

"It's  quite  true,"  said  poor  Dick. 

"You  see,  my  dear,"  said  Austin,  "what 
it  costs  him — what  it  costs  us  both — to  tell 
you  this." 

"But  I  don't  understand.  I  don't  under- 
stand!" she  cried,  with  sudden  piteousness. 
"What  did  you  mean,  then — a  little  while 
ago — in  the  armoury?" 

Austin,  who  did  not  see  the  allusion,  had 
to  allow  Dick  to  speak  for  himself. 

"I  was  drunk,"  said  Dick  desperately. 
"I've  been  drinking  heavily  of  late — and 
not  accountable  for  my  actions.  I  oughtn't 
to  have  done  what  I  did." 

"And  so,  you  see,"  continued  Austin,  with 
some  eagerness,  "when  he  became  con- 
fronted with  the  great  change  in  his  life — 
Vancouver — he  looked  at  things  soberly. 
He  found  that  his  feelings  towards  you  were 
not  of  the  order  that  would  warrant  his 
making  you  his  wife." 


182  VIVIETTE 

Before  Viviette  could  reply  the  door 
opened,  and  Mrs.  Ware  and  Katherine  en- 
tered the  room.  Mrs.  Ware,  ignorant  of 
tension,  went  smilingly  to  Austin,  and, 
drawing  down  his  shapely  head  with  both 
hands,  kissed  him. 

"My  dear,  dear  boy,  I'm  so  glad,  so  truly 
glad.  Katherine  has  just  told  me." 

"Told  you  what,  mother?"  asked  Viviette 
quickly,  with  a  new  sharpness  in  her  voice. 

Mrs.  Ware  turned  a  beaming  face. 
"Can't  you  guess,  darling?  Oh,  Austin, 
there's  no  living  woman  whom  I  would 
sooner  call  my  daughter.  You've  made  me 
so  happy." 

The  facile  tears  came,  and  she  sat  down 
and  dried  them  on  her  little  wisp  of  hand- 
kerchief. 

"I  thought  it  for  the  best  to  tell  your 
mother,  Austin,"  said  Katherine,  somewhat 
apologetically.  "We  were  speaking  of 
you — and — I  couldn't  keep  it  back." 


TAKES  THE  RISK  183 

Viviette,  white-lipped  and  dazed,  looked 
at  Austin,  Katherine,  and  Dick  in  turns. 
She  said,  in  the  high-pitched  voice,  to  Aus- 
tin: 

"Have  you  asked  Katherine  to  marry 
you?" 

"Yes,"  he  replied,  not  quite  so  con- 
fidently, and  avoiding  her  glance — "and  she 
has  done  me  the  honour  of  accepting  me." 

Katherine  held  out  a  conciliatory  hand  to 
Viviette.  "Won't  you  congratulate  me, 
dear?" 

"And  Austin,  too,"  said  Mrs.  Ware. 

But  Viviette  lost  control  of  herself.  "I'll 
congratulate  nobody,"  she  cried  shrilly.  She 
burned  with  a  sense  of  intolerable  outrage. 
Only  a  few  hours  before  she  had  been  be- 
fooled into  believing  herself  to  be  the  mis- 
tress of  the  destinies  of  two  men.  Both  had 
offered  her  their  love.  Both  had  kissed  her. 
The  memory  lashed  her  into  fury.  Now 
one  of  them  avowed  that  she  had  been 


184  VIVIETTE 

merely  the  object  of  a  drunken  passion,  and 
the  other  came  before  her  as  the  affianced 
husband  of  the  woman  who  called  herself 
her  dearest  friend. 

Katherine,  in  deep  distress,  laid  her  hand 
on  the  girl's  arm.  "Why  not,  dear?  I 
thought  that  you  and  Dick — in  fact — I  un- 
derstood  " 

Viviette  freed  herself  from  Katherine's 
touch. 

"Oh,  no,  you  didn't.  You  didn't  under- 
stand anything.  You  didn't  try  to.  You 
are  all  lying.  The  three  of  you.  You  have 
all  lied,  and  lied,  and  lied  to  me.  I  tell  you 
to  your  faces  you  have  lied  to  me."  She 
swung  passionately  to  each  in  turn.  "  'Aus- 
tin can  never  be  anything  to  me  but  a 
friend' — how  often  have  you  said  that  to 
me?  Ah — Saint  Nitouche!  And  you" — 
to  Austin — "How  dared  you  insult  me  this 
morning?  And  you — how  have  you  dared 


TAKES  THE  RISK  185 

to  insult  me  all  the  time?  You've  lied — the 
whole  lot  of  you — and  I  hate  you  all!" 

Mrs.  Ware  had  risen,  scared  and  trem- 
bling. 

"What  does  the  girl  mean?  I've  never 
heard  such  unladylike  words  in  a  drawing- 
room  in  my  life." 

Dick  blundered  in:  "It's  all  my  fault, 
mother " 

"I've  not  the  slightest  doubt  of  that,"  re- 
turned the  old  lady  with  asperity.  "But 
what  Austin  and  Katherine  have  to  do  with 
it  I  can't  imagine." 

The  servant  opened  the  door. 

"Lord  Banstead." 

He  entered  a  cold,  strange  silence. 
Everyone  had  forgotten  him.  He  must 
have  attributed  the  ungenial  atmosphere  to 
his  own  lateness — it  was  half-past  eight — 
for  he  made  penitent  apology  to  Mrs.  Ware. 
Austin  greeted  him  coldly.  Dick  nodded 
absently  from  the  other  side  of  the  room. 


186  VIVIETTE 

Viviette,  with  a  sweeping  glance  of  defiance 
at  the  assembled  family,  held  herself  very 
erect,  and  with  hard  eyes  and  quivering  lips 
came  straight  to  the  young  fellow. 

"Lord  Banstead,"  she  said.  "You  have 
asked  me  four  times  to  marry  you.  Did 
you  mean  it,  or  were  you  lying,  too?" 

Banstead's  pallid  cheeks  flushed.  He  was 
overcome  with  confusion. 

"Of  course  I  mean  it — meant  to  ask  you 
again  to-day — ask  you  now." 

"Then  I  will  marry  you." 

Dick  strode  forward,  and,  catching  her 
by  the  wrist,  swung  her  away  from  Ban- 
stead,  his  face  aflame  with  sudden  passion. 

"No,  by  God,  you  shan't!" 

Banstead  retreated  a  few  paces,  scared 
out  of  his  life.  Mrs.  Ware  sought  Austin's 
protecting  arm. 

"What  does  all  this  mean?  I  don't  un- 
derstand it." 

Austin   led  her  to   the   door.     "I'll   see 


TAKES  THE  RISK          187 

nothing  unpleasant  happens,  dear.  You 
had  better  go  and  tell  them  to  keep  back 
dinner  yet  a  few  minutes." 

His  voice  and  authority  soothed  her,  and 
she  left  the  room,  casting  a  terrified  glance 
at  Dick,  standing  threateningly  over  Lord 
Banstead,  who  had  muttered  something 
about  Viviette  being  free  to  do  as  she  liked. 

"She  can  do  what  she  likes,  but,  by  God! 
she  shan't  marry  you." 

"I'm  of  age,"  declared  Viviette  fiercely. 
"I  marry  whom  I  choose." 

"Of  course  she  can,"  said  Banstead.  "Are 
you  taking  leave  of  your  senses?" 

"How  dare  you  ask  a  pure  girl  to  marry 
you?"  cried  Dick  furiously.  "You,  who 
have  come  straight  here  from " 

Banstead  found  some  spirit.  "Shut  up, 
Ware,"  he  interrupted.  "Play  the  game. 
You've  no  right  to  say  that." 

"I  have  the  right,"  cried  Dick. 

"Hush!"      said      Austin,      interposing. 


188  VIVIETTE 

"There's  no  need  to  prolong  this  painful 
discussion.  To-morrow — as  Viviette's  guar- 
dian  " 

"To-morrow?"  Dick  shouted.  "Where 
shall  I  be  to-morrow?  Away  from  here — 
unable  to  defend  her — unable  to  say  a 
word." 

"If  you  said  a  thousand  words,"  said 
Viviette,  "they  wouldn't  make  an  atom  of 
difference.  Lord  Banstead  has  asked  me 
to  marry  him.  I  have  accepted  him  openly. 
What  dare  you  say  to  it?" 

"Yes,"  said  Banstead.  "She  has  made 
no  bones  about  it.  I've  asked  her  five  times. 
Now  she  accepts  me.  What  have  you  to 
say  to  it?" 

"I  say  she  shan't  marry  you,"  said  Dick, 
glaring  at  the  other. 

"Steady,  steady,  Dick,"  said  Austin 
iwarningly.  But  Dick  shook  his  warning 
angrily  aside,  and  Austin  saw  that,  once 
again  that  day,  Dick  was  desperate. 


TAKES  THE  RISK          189 

"Not  while  I  live  shall  she  marry  you. 
Don't  I  know  your  infernal  beastly  life?" 

"Now,  look  here,"  said  Banstead,  at  bay. 
"What  the  deuce  have  you  got  to  do  with 
my  affairs?" 

"Everything.  Do  you  think  she  loves 
you,  cares  for  you,  honours  you,  respects 
you?" 

Viviette  faced  him  with  blazing  eyes. 

"I  do,"  she  said  defiantly. 

"It's  a  lie,"  cried  Dick.  "It's  you  that 
are  lying  now.  Heaven  and  earth!  I've 
suffered  enough  to-day — I  thought  I  had 
been  through  hell — but  it's  nothing  to  this. 
She  loves  me — do  you  hear  me? — me — me — 
me — and  I  can't  marry  her — and  I  don't 
care  a  damn  who  knows  the  reason." 

"Stop,  man,"  said  Austin. 

"Let  me  be.  She  shall  know  the  truth. 
Everyone  shall  know  the  truth.  At  any 
rate,  it  will  save  her  from  this." 

"I  will  do  it  quietly,  later,  Dick." 


190  VIVIETTE 

"Let  me  be,  I  tell  you,"  said  Dick,  with 
great,  clumsy,  passionate  gesture.  "Let's 
have  no  more  lies."  He  turned  to  Viviette. 
"You  wrote  me  a  letter.  You  said  you 
loved  me — would  marry  me — come  out  to 
Vancouver — the  words  made  me  drunk  with 
happiness — at  first.  You  saw  me.  I  re- 
fused your  love  and  your  offer.  I  said  I 
didn't  love  you.  I  lied.  I  said  I  couldn't 
marry  you.  It  was  the  truth.  I  can't.  I 
can't.  But  love  you!  Oh,  my  God!  My 
God!  There  were  flames  of  hell  in  my 
heart — but  couldn't  you  see  the  love  shining 
through?" 

"Don't,  Dick,  don't,"  cried  Katherine. 

"I  will,"  he  exclaimed  wildly.  "I'll  tell 
her  why  I  can't  marry  any  woman.  I  tried 
to  murder  Austin  this  afternoon!" 

Katherine  closed  her  eyes.  She  had 
guessed  it.  But  Viviette,  with  parted  lips 
and  white  cheeks,  groped  her  way  back- 
wards to  a  chair,  without  shifting  her  ter- 


TAKES  THE  RISK  191 

ror-stricken  gaze  from  Dick;  and  sitting, 
she  gripped  the  arms  of  the  chair. 

There  was  a  moment  of  tense  silence. 
Banstead  at  last  relieved  his  feelings  with 
a  gasping,  "Well,  I'm  damned!" 

Dick  continued: 

"It  was  jealousy — mad  jealousy — this 
afternoon — in  the  armoury — the  mock  duel 
— one  of  the  pistols  was  loaded.  I  loaded  it 
— first,  in  order  to  kill  him  out  of  hand — 
then  I  thought  of  the  duel — he  would  have 
his  chance — either  he  would  kill  me  or  I 
would  kill  him.  Mine  happened  to  be 
loaded.  It  missed  fire.  It  was  only  the 
infinite  mercy  of  God  that  I  didn't  kill  him. 
He  found  it  out.  He  has  forgiven  me. 
He's  worth  fifty  millions  of  me.  But  my 
hands  are  red  with  his  blood,  and  I  can't 
touch  your  pure  garments.  They  would 
stain  them  red — and  I  should  see  red  again 
before  my  eyes  some  day.  A  man  like  me 
is  not  fit  to  marry  any  woman.  A  mur- 


192  VIVIETTE 

derer  is  beyond  the  pale.  So  I  said  I 
didn't  love  her  to  save  her  from  the  knowl- 
edge of  this  horror.  And  now  I'm  going 
to  the  other  side  of  the  world  to  work  out 
my  salvation — but  she  shall  know  that  a 
man  loves  her  with  all  his  soul,  and  would 
go  through  any  torment  and  renunciation 
for  her  sake — and,  knowing  that,  she  can't 
go  and  throw  herself  away  on  a  man  un- 
worthy of  her.  After  what  I've  told  you, 
will  you  marry  this  man?" 

Still  looking  at  him,  motionless,  she  whis- 
pered, "No." 

"I  say!"  exclaimed  Banstead.  "I 
think " 

Austin  checked  further  speech.  Dick 
looked  haggardly  round  the  room. 

"There.  Now  you  all  know.  I'm  not  fit 
to  be  under  the  same  roof  with  you.  Good- 
bye." 

He  slouched  in  his  heavy  way  to  the  door, 


TAKES  THE  RISK  193 

but  Viviette  sprang  from  her  chair  and 
planted  herself  in  his  path. 

"No.  You  shan't  go.  Do  you  think  I 
have  nothing  to  say?" 

"Say  what  you  like,"  said  Dick  sadly. 
"Nothing  is  too  black  for  me.  Curse  me, 
if  you  will." 

She  laughed,  and  shock  her  head.  "Do 
you  think  a  woman  curses  the  man  who 
would  commit  murder  for  the  love  of  her?" 
she  cried,  with  a  strange  exultation  in  her 
voice.  "If  I  loved  you  before — don't  you 
think  I  love  you  now  a  million  times  more?" 

Dick  fell  back,  thrilled  with  amazement. 

"You  love  me  still?"  he  gasped.  "You 
don't  shrink " 

"Excuse  me,"  interrupted  Banstead, 
crossing  the  room.  "Does  this  mean  that 
you  chuck  me,  Miss  Hastings?" 

"You  must  release  me  from  my  promise, 
Lord  Banstead,"  she  said  gently.  "I 


194  VIVIETTE 

scarcely  knew  what  I  was  doing.  I'm  very 
sorry.  I've  not  behaved  well  to  you." 

"You've  treated  me  damned  badly,"  said 
Banstead,  turning  on  his  heel.  "Good-bye, 
everybody." 

Austin,  moved  by  compunction,  tried  to 
conciliate  the  angry  youth,  but  he  refused 
comfort.  He  had  been  made  a  fool  of,  and 
would  stand  that  from  nobody.  He  would 
not  stay  for  dinner,  and  would  not  put  his 
foot  inside  the  house  again. 

"At  any  rate,"  said  Austin,  bidding  him 
good-bye,  "I  can  rely  on  you  not  to  breathe 
a  word  to  anyone  of  what  you've  heard  this 
evening?" 

Banstead  fingered  his  underfed  mous- 
tache. 

"I  may  be  pretty  rotten,  but  I'm  not  that 
kind  of  cad,"  said  he.  And  he  went,  not 
without  a  certain  dignity. 

Dick  took  Viviette's  hand  and  kissed  it 
tenderly. 


TAKES  THE  RISK  195 

"God  bless  you,  dear.  I'll  remember 
what  you've  said  all  my  life.  I  can  go  away 
almost  happy." 

"You  can  go  away  quite  happy,  if  you 
like,"  said  Viviette.  "Take  me  with  you." 

"To  Vancouver?" 

Austin  joined  them.  "It  is  impossible, 
dear,"  said  he. 

"I  go  with  him  to  Vancouver,"  she  said. 

Dick  wrung  his  hands.  "But  I  daren't 
marry  you,  Viviette,  I  daren't,  I  daren't." 

"Don't  you  see  that  it's  impossible,  Vivi- 
ette?" said  Austin. 

"Why?" 

"I've  explained  it  to  Dick.  He  has  hinted 
it  to  you.  You're  scarcely  old  enough  to 
understand,  my  dear.  It  is  the  risk  you 
run." 

"Such  men  as  I  can't  marry,"  said  Dick 
loyally.  "You  don't  understand.  Austin 
is  right.  The  risk  is  too  great." 

She  laughed  in  superb  contempt. 


196  VIVIETTE 

"The  risk?  Do  you  think  I'm  such  a  fool 
as  not  to  understand?  Do  you  think,  after 
what  I've  said,  that  I'm  a  child?  Risk? 
What  is  life  or  love  worth  without  risk? 
When  a  woman  loves  a  fierce  man  she  takes 
the  risk  of  his  fierceness.  It's  her  joy.  I'll 
take  the  risk,  and  it  will  be  a  bond  between 
us." 

Austin  implored  her  to  listen  to  reason. 
She  swept  his  arguments  aside. 

"God  forbid.  I'll  listen  to  love,"  she 
cried.  "And  if  ever  a  man  wanted  love, 
it's  Dick.  Reason!  Come,  Dick,  let  us 
leave  this  god  and  goddess  of  reason  alone. 
I've  got  something  to  say  which  only  you 
can  hear." 

She  dragged  him  in  a  bewildered  state  of 
mind  to  the  door,  which  she  held  open.  She 
was  absolute  mistress  of  the  situation.  She 
motioned  to  Dick  to  precede  her,  and  he 
obeyed,  like  a  man  in  a  dream.  On  the 
threshold  she  paused,  and  flashed  defiance 


"I  want  you  to  love  me  forever  and  ever" 


TAKES  THE  RISK          197 

at  Austin,  who  appeared  to  her  splendid 
scorn  but  a  small,  narrow-natured  man. 

"You  can  say  and  think  what  you  like, 
you  two.  You  are  civilised  people — and  I 
suppose  you  love  in  a  civilised  way  accord- 
ing to  reason.  I'm  a  primitive  woman,  and 
Dick's  a  primitive  man — and,  thank  God! 
we  understand  each  other,  and  love  each 
other  as  primitive  people  do." 

She  slammed  the  door,  and  in  another 
moment  was  caught  in  Dick's  great  arms. 

"What  do  you  want  to  say  that  only  I 
can  hear?"  he  asked  after  a  while. 

"This,"  she  said.  "I  want  you  to  love 
me  strongly  and  fiercely  for  ever  and  ever — 
and  I'll  be  a  great  wife  to  you — and,  if  I 
fail — if  I  am  ever  wanton,  as  I  have  been 
to-day — for  I  have  been  wanton — and  all 
that  has  happened  has  been  my  fault — if 
ever  I  play  fast  and  loose  with  your  love 
again — I  want  you  to  kill  me.  Promise!" 

She  looked  at  him  with  glowing  eyes. 


198  VIVIETTE 

All  the  big  man's  heart  melted  into  ador- 
ing pity.  He  took  her  face  in  both  his  hands 
as  tenderly  as  he  would  have  touched  a  prize 
rose  bloom. 

"Thank  God,  you're  still  a  child,  dear," 
he  said. 


THE  END 


TO    BE    PUBLISHED    OCTOBER,    1916 

WILLIAM  J.  LOCKE'S 
NEW  NOVEL 

The  Wonderful  Year 

By  the  Author  of 

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